Khan
by TVfan
Summary: Created to serve the Illuminati, Khan Noonien Singh quickly proves himself smarter than them. His rebellion rapidly begins to consume the Illuminati Society and the world. But, with its origins in Tibet, it soon brings in the Tibetan clan, Japanese exiles, and ultimately Wedrington and Demona. (Transferred from the Gargoyles Fan Website, where I forgot my password and am SN)
1. Prelude to Rebellion

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place immediately after "Love or Lust?". It might also be helpful to read "Restoration" to get some of the basic background to this story.

Prelude to Rebellion

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Tibet**

Khan stood quietly on the roof of the Tibet Illuminati base. A base he and his followers had recently 'liberated'.

"When do the scanners predict their arrival?" Khan asked.

"About ten minutes, sir," his second in command answered.

"They're behind schedule," Khan commented.

"You expected them sooner, sir?" his second in command asked.

"We took over their facility," Khan answered, "You don't think they would send someone to investigate what happened?"

"We made it look like done by some unknown factor," the second protested, "Wouldn't they at least try to see if we had 'retaken' the base?"

"Yes," Khan nodded, "But remember, much of the equipment was damaged when we took over the base, and it's only been repaired recently."

His second in command nodded.

"What should we do with the investigation team?" the second asked eventually.

"Let them investigate," Khan smiled, "We've dealt with the bodies of the Illuminati agents here and are taking over their programs for our own."

"The investigative team will surely leave someone behind to 'command' us," the second pointed out, "Dealing with him will be difficult."

Khan nodded, "Of course it will be. But that will be half the fun, besides, we may have to for the time being, until the army is ready and until Tibet is firmly behind us."

"Tibet sir?" the second asked.

"In 1927, Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi, of Japan, wrote a document outlining Japan's plan world conquest," Khan explained, "Becoming known as the 'Tanaka Memorial', it says that 'in order to conquer the world, we must first conquer Europe and Asia. In order to conquer Europe and Asia, we must first conquer China.' Now, we currently lack Japan's resources, but we have the opportunity. We must secure Tibet to our cause and from there, conquer China."

The second nodded.

"From China we can move to dominate the rest of the Asian continent," Khan explained.

"This will still be difficult sir," the second cautioned, "Tibet is sparsely populated and very few of its limited population would be willing to join you. We can not use Tibet and an internal secessionist movement against China. Their numbers would overwhelm us eventually and they have nuclear weapons as well."

"Yes," Khan nodded, "It will be difficult, but we can use propaganda to aid our cause. We inform the Chinese people that their communist leaders are not their true leaders, and that their real leaders are a group of non-Asians that are led by a ghost, their people will begin to question why they are fighting."

"That will only help if we are winning," the second pointed out.

"Which is why until I give the order to begin the uprising we are to create more and more supermen and gather more weapons, specifically non-projectile weapons, until we have enough to conquer our foes," Khan answered, "I will also trust you and others to bring Tibet's support behind us completely and to train all who join us into units."

"This plan will take forever," the second complained.

"Yes, but that will be half the fun, as I said before," Khan smiled.

The second nodded and walked back into the facility, leaving the leader of the Illuminati supermen alone. Khan stood alone for a few moments as he looked out over the landscape. He stood there alone for a few moments before he saw a small helicopter approach the base from the south. As the helicopter got closer, Khan saw that it bore Communist Chinese markings, despite the fact that it came from Nepal. Khan knew that the Illuminati were trying to figure what had happened at the Tibet base earlier. Now, he had play the game so that they couldn't realize his plans until it was too late.

Soon after the helicopter landed eight men, all in business suits exited the helicopter. The first of them spotted Khan immediately.

"Ah, Mr. Khan," the man said politely, "Good to see that you have survived. I am Agent Lockly, this is the Nepal Investigation team of the Illuminati."

"You don't look Nepalese," Khan answered.

"My cover is as an agent in the British Embassy," Lockly answered, "But that's not why I'm here."

"I understand," Khan nodded.

"Would you mind explaining what happened here?" one of the other men asked with a serious look on his face, "We saw an entire Illuminati facility wiped out by someone on the security cameras. And since I doubt anyone, with the exception of the gargoyle race could fight their way into this facility and kill everyone with you here."

"You want an explanation," Khan nodded, "That is understandable. Why don't we take this inside out of the cold, sirs. I have been bred to be able to withstand such climates, but you probably are not."

"Of course," Lockly answered, "We would much prefer to take a look at the interior of the base."

Khan nodded and began to lead the eight men into the facility. As they followed they saw several men working with welding torches and other tools. It was obvious that they were repairing the damage that they had earlier inflicted when they took over the base.

"There, now that we're inside," the man that had growled at Khan earlier spoke again, "You will tell us EXACTLY what happened here."

Khan looked back at the man with a rather amused face, "And abandon protocol? You deserve an explanation, but I will not give it as if I was on trial. Remember, sir, that your bosses commissioned my creation. And if you continue to act as such, I will challenge you to a duel under Article Twenty-Five of the Illuminati Charter."

The Illuminati members looked at each other with a great degree of shock and surprise, but said nothing. The man that had challenged Khan was immediately silent, not wanting to be brought into a direct one on one duel with one of the Illuminati's supermen. It was Lockly who finally spoke up.

"We will follow protocol," Lockly said, "You must also forgive any suspicion on our part, Khan. Your supermen are stronger, smarter, and all around better than any human. Since nearly ninety percent of the Illuminati supermen are stationed here, we didn't think that anyone could get into this base and kill everyone inside."

"Understandable," Khan answered, "But things are much more complex then you realize and I do not want to be the first and only suspect."

"No one does," Lockly answered.

Ultimately, Khan led them into a rather large conference room and offered each Illuminati investigator a seat. Khan would eventually move to sit at the end of the table opposite Lockly.

"Now," Lockly sighed as Khan sat down, "We must get down to business. Recently the Illuminati Council observed this base being overrun by some paramilitary element. All of the agents inside this base were killed. The Council has ordered us to investigate the issue. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, Mr. Khan, would you mind if you could tell us your side of the story?"

"I wouldn't mind," Khan answered, "As I said before, things are much more complicated then I'm sure you can imagine. Some organization has been giving us trouble over the past several days. Not in direct attacks, but we have been intercepting various radio messages that gave us indications that they were intending to attack the base."

"It seems that they succeeded," another of the eight Illuminati investigators commented.

"Yes," Khan nodded, "The base leader insisted that I take all the supermen out to find these occurrences. I protested that I couldn't leave the base unguarded, but he insisted and used his position as my superior to make sure we left. I lead my men out to search for these people. We found and eliminated a few in the mountains to the north of our position, but nothing more. By the time we returned to the base, we found it attacked and the all the Illuminati agents dead."

"Why didn't you contact the Council when you discovered this?" the fifth person in the group asked.

"We found all the equipment damaged from the attack," Khan answered, "In fact we had just finished repairing the sensor arrays when we detected your helicopter coming. I assumed this was the reason why you were coming."

"I see," Lockly answered, "I must complement you on your initiative to begin repairing the facility. My team will begin looking over various aspects of the facility to prove your story. Also, let me know when your communications is online. I would like to contact the Council."

"Of course," Khan answered, "I will take you personally to the transmission center. Our communications were repaired before our sensors."

"Excellent," Lockly answered, "Lead the way."

Khan nodded and stood up. The superman leader walked to the main door and ushered the other Illuminati inspectors out. All of them headed off in a different direction, once they had disappeared from sight, Khan turned and began to lead Lockly through the maze of corridors until they came to a large room that had a large glass screen as one of its walls.

"Amazing," Lockly commented, "It looks like you've even improved on the technology."

"We have," Khan nodded, "And it can even interface easily with the old technology."

"Perfect," Lockly answered.

Khan then turned and began to walk toward the room's exit.

"I'll leave you alone with the Council," Khan explained as he neared the door.

"No, stay," Lockly said quickly, "This is only a preliminary report to say what you believe the cause of the recent events here were, not my final report. The Council may wish to hear directly from you."

Khan looked back nervously at Lockly but hid any indication that he was nervous. The leader of the Illuminati's supermen then sighed and returned to Lockly's side.

"If you insist," Khan answered.

Lockly nodded and activated the communications array. A few seconds later the hooded image of Five appeared on the screen.

"Agent Lockly," Five greeted, "And Khan! Good to see you survived the chaos that engulfed your base recently."

"I see little good in it," Khan answered, "I failed to protect the base."

"Ah yes, but now that we are hearing from you we will get some answers," Five replied, "What is your report Agent Lockly?"

"The preliminary report is that there is a militarist element in the region that the Council was unaware of," Lockly answered, "When Khan led the supermen out to apprehend them they attacked the unguarded base."

"Do you know who they are, Khan?" Five asked.

"Not exactly," Khan answered, "But the situation is under control. I have patrols out hunting for them now."

"Good," Five nodded, "What is the current status of the investigation?"

"We've just gotten started," Lockly answered.

"Excellent," Five answered, "Let me know when you've completed your investigation."

"Yes, sir," Lockly replied.

The screen then immediately flashed black.

"I will leave you to you investigation," Khan commented, "I have other matters to take care of."

Khan met with his second back in the briefing room a few minutes later.

"Do they believe us?" the second asked nervous, "I caught one of them poking around the cloning chambers in the scientific lab, and he struck me as rather suspicious."

"Don't worry," Khan answered, "He IS very suspicious, exactly as was expected. As for our explanation as to what happened here, I believe that they will lean toward us in that regard. All we need is some minor piece of evidence that will 'prove' our story."

"The Buddhist monastery?" the second asked.

"Exactly," Khan smiled, "We go there, destroy the building, bring back a few dead monks, redressed in combat gear, possibly a gargoyle or two, and they will believe anything."

"How many men do you want sent on this mission?" the second questioned.

"At least two squads," Khan answered, "and they are to move under 'cover' of darkness. I want the gargoyles to know we're coming. Evidence of a battle would be even more convincing."

"I will see to the orders immediately, sir," the second nodded and left the room.

**That Night**

Je Lu stood quietly on the outer walls of the Buddhist monastery, watching out for anything or anyone that might try to attack it. Since Demona's visit and the subsequent battle with Sekhmet, life there had returned to its normal peaceful existence. The most dangerous thing that had approached the monastery was a snow leopard, and it obviously could not get in. Je Lu's clan continued to hunt for food for them and for the monks who lived with them. The green dragon-like gargoyle felt rather relaxed, although on occasion, his thoughts would drift to Demona and the human that she had freed from Sekhmet's grasp.

"Anything wrong?" Shi La asked she came up next to him.

"No," Je Lu answered, "Just wondering about things."

"You're curious about what happened with Demona and her friend," Shi La commented.

Je Lu nodded, "Yes. I wonder if they succeeded in returning to their home."

"I'm sure they made it back," Shi La commented, "But I think there is something more to your worrying then whether or not they are safe."

"I'm curious," Je Lu sighed, "Our clan's historical document that we were the ONLY gargoyles in the world and that we were China's nighttime jewel. But Demona was obviously not Chinese. That leaves me to wonder if there are other clans out there besides her."

"You're still an explorer," Shi La chuckled, "I can remember the antics you pulled off when we were hatchlings."

"Yes," Je Lu laughed back, "I suppose I caused my fair share of trouble, but you were never far behind me."

Shi La was about to say something more when she noticed something moving up the path that the monks had followed up to the monastery much earlier.

"Do you see something?" Je Lu asked.

"Look up the path, about one hundred meters out," Shi La answered while pointing in the direction in which she had seen the movement.

Je Lu looked out down the path to see that she was right. There was something out there. It looked like roughly sixteen humans, all armed with some kind of gun, and were wearing clothing that could not only keep them warm, but functioned well as a commando's uniform. Je Lu's mind instantly flashed to the other half of Sekhmet's attack on the monastery during Demona's visit.

"It's those supermen again!" Je Lu exclaimed, "We've got to get the clan ready and drive them off!"

Just as Je Lu finished one of the advancing Illuminati supermen aimed his weapon and fired at the large wooden gates that were the only opening to the monastery. Shi La and Je Lu looked on in horror as the weapon made a sound that they had never heard before and released a small red beam of energy. When that beam hit the wooden gate, the gate exploded, forcing Je Lu and Shi La to duck down behind their wings to avoid being hit by one of the splinters. The men had then broken into a run.

"We can't win like this," Shi La said quickly, "They are quick to fire and very accurate with their aiming. On top of this they're strong. They killed three of us the last time."

"We can't not fight," Je Lu answered.

Shi La began to drag Je Lu back inside the monastery to be greeted by most of the rest of the Tibetan clan, which had been attracted to the sound of the gates exploding.

"What's going on?" one of the gargoyles asked.

"The supermen are attacking us," Je Lu answered, "Wake up Fang Shui and the monks. We will need to be prepared to leave."

"Leave?" another of the gargoyles asked, "We can't leave our home."

"I'm not confident we can defend it either," Je Lu said urgently, "Not like this."

Another gargoyle was about to speak up when they all heard another explosion come from below them.

"That was the front door, two floors down," one gargoyle commented.

"Shi La, take your sisters and get the hatchlings out," Je Lu ordered, "Even if we have to fight here, I will not risk their lives."

Shi La quickly nodded and motioned to the Tibetan clan's females to follow her and then left at a full sprint. Je Lu then turned to the remaining males.

"The rest of us will try to evacuate the monks," Je Lu said quickly, "Fang Shui and his monks have been our friends for a very long time. We can not abandon them or leave them where they could get hurt."

Khan's second in command was the leader of the two squads of Illuminati supermen. He had noticed the two gargoyles conversing on one of the monastery's upper walls, and after their first shot when he saw them flee inside the building, he knew Khan's plan had worked. They would fight, but not out in the open. They would wait until they got inside the monastery where it would be the strength of the supermen versus the strength of the gargoyle.

Once inside the main entrance hall to the monastery, Khan's second turned to the other supermen behind him.

"Okay, Able, take squad A and go through the basement," the second ordered, "We've never noticed them roosting outside, so they must have an internal sleeping area. Squad A will search the basement and up. I will take squad B and will go straight to the rafters and work our way down. We'll meet halfway."

"Yes, sir," Able answered and lead eight men off in search of a stairway that would lead them to the basement.

Khan's second then began leading his team towards a different set of stairs

"Fang Shui," Je Lu whispered as quietly as he could, trying to wake the monk up, "Fang Shui, wake up."

The monk was startled to see Je Lu standing over him as he was roused from his sleep, but quickly recovered. He calmly sat up, letting Je Lu pull him out of bed.

"Je Lu, what is going on?" Fang Shui asked, "Why are you waking me at this hour?"

"The monastery is under attack," Je Lu answered, "It is the same supermen that attacked before and destroyed the dragon statue."

"Oh my," Fang Shui exclaimed.

"Yes," Je Lu said quickly, "I'm trying to get you and the hatchlings out so that way you aren't harmed when the inevitable fight breaks out."

Fang Shui was busy putting on his warmest clothes throughout all of this, determined to keep himself warm should he and the monks have to wait too long out in the snow. A few minutes later Fang Shui and Je Lu emerged in the hallway to see that the other males had successfully gathered the other monks.

"We're ready to evacuate the monks, Je Lu," one of the males reported.

"Too bad you never will!" announced another voice from behind them.

Je Lu and the others turned to see eight supermen standing behind them, all armed. As soon as the mouth's finished dropping with shock and horror, the Illuminati supermen fired their weapons. Three of Je Lu's clan were instantly vaporized while one of the monks was also killed.

"We need to get out of here!" Je Lu screamed as he scooped Fang Shui into his arms and ran down the hallway, dodging laser shots as they were fired.

"Why have they returned?" Fang Shui asked, "They only wanted the dragon statue last time."

"Apparently their orders have changed since then," another male growled.

While the Tibetan clan knew the hallways of the monastery by heart, the need to move quickly now made things difficult the gargoyles not only had to search for a window or a door to the outside air, they had to avoid laser shots that the Illuminati soldiers wasted no time in firing. Je Lu inwardly roared as he heard two more members of his clan cut down by the laser fire, knowing that at least one monk was probably taken with him. Finally the group found a window, and without hesitation, Je Lu leaped through it, making sure that Fang Shui was not harmed and quickly began to glide away from the monastery. The supermen fired their laser shots after them as the fled, but once they were airborne, they were much more maneuverable and the laser shots only managed to slightly wound a few members of Je Lu's clan.

Landing on a nearby mountain slope Je Lu met up with Shi La, some of the other females and all of the hatchlings. He was relieved to see that all of the clan's children had survived, even though all of them had come from the previous generation. It was among the adults where Je Lu saw the casualties. Of roughly thirteen males that he had before this attack, he now only had six. Of twelve females, only seven were still alive now.

"We've got to drive them out," one of the males commented, "They can't get away with this."

Before Je Lu could answer, the monastery was rocked by a massive explosion, leaving a smoking pile of rubble. Screams of despair echoed through the night.

"What do we do now?" a hatchling asked.

"We can not stay here," Je Lu sighed, "It is too dangerous without the monastery for Fang Shui and the monks to live out here. We must leave."

"Where will we go?" Shi La asked.

"And what about the supermen?" a male asked, "They must pay for this!"

"We can't fight them," Je Lu answered, "We don't have any weapons and Fang Shui's monks have renounced violence. They were armed with very destructive weapons."

"Maybe Demona could help us," a female piped up, "Fang Shui helped her regain her true form, maybe she could help us."

"She said she was from New York," Fang Shui exclaimed, "That's a long ways away."

"And none of us speak English," another monk added.

"Yes," Je Lu sighed, "But Demona understood Chinese. I think she is our only hope."

"We will need a map," Shi La pointed out, "The Ancient Chinese never made it to New York."

"The monks and I can get that," Fang Shui said, "Don't worry."

"We'd best be on our way," Je Lu sighed.

**Illuminati Base**

Khan stood outside the entrance as his second returned to the base. He noticed that three of the supermen were being carried back in addition to several humans dressed in commando gear and two charred gargoyles.

"Report," Khan ordered.

"Their females managed to knock three of our guys out, but other than that we suffered no major casualties," the second answered.

Khan nodded.

"We successfully killed several members of gargoyle clan and the human monks," the second continued, "and destroyed the monastery. They will not bother us again in the future."

"You're certain?" Khan asked.

"Yes," the second nodded, "Some of the monks did survive. Knowing the information we have on most gargoyles it's likely that they will leave this area to protect the monks and make sure they do not freeze to death."

"Very well," Khan nodded, "The inspectors have gone to bed for the night. We will present the bodies as evidence to prove our story tomorrow."

"Yes, sir," the second nodded.

The next morning the Illuminati inspectors met in the conference room to discuss their findings. Khan was not present and it many of them preferred that the commander of the supermen was absent for this meeting.

"What do you have to report?" Lockly asked to begin the meeting.

"I found nothing that is not explainable in Khan's story," one commented, "The base was obviously damaged and they are repairing it."

"They're covering their tracks," another sneered.

"We don't know that," the first argued, "And why would they even be here if they were the ones who killed our agents here. They are genetically designed to be smarter than us. They would know we're coming."

"Their fingerprints are all over the place," the other investigator sneered, "And you just admitted it. They're smarter than us. This could all be a plot."

"Their fingerprints are everywhere because no one in the various repair crews is wearing gloves," a third member of the team pointed out, "Saying their fingerprints are here is like saying there is candy in a convenience store."

"What if it's a plot?" the man argued, trying to get someone on his side.

"Then we'd be dead by know," Lockly pointed out, "Not only are they smarter than we are, but stronger and faster as well. They had numerous opportunities to kill us yesterday while we were running our investigation. The supermen could not have been responsible."

"I beg to differ," the man retorted angrily, "While you all went about looking at where the supermen were working, I went and looked at where they weren't working. And you'll never believe where that was."

"Where, Agent Yemo?" Lockly asked, sounding annoyed.

"The labs," Yemo answered, "And low and behold, the lab was completely repaired. There were even new supermen growing in the cloning chambers. Now, I don't know how many of you people remember the security images, but the lab was also destroyed during the attack."

"How does this play into everything?" one of two women on the investigative team asked, "This base was established for the superman project."

"Well," Yemo continued, "If the 'attack' destroyed everything and everything had to be repaired, wouldn't it be best to work to repair everything? Khan even said that he didn't get his communications and sensor equipment fixed until just before we arrived. In theory he should have only made the same amount of progress with the lab, but NO! It's fully functional, and in use. Khan has some hidden agenda that involves creating more supermen."

"Agent Yemo, the Council ordered more supermen to be created before the attack began," Lockly sighed, "You don't suppose that Khan is merely following orders?"

"No," Yemo answered, "Because he isn't."

Lockly was about to answer when there was a knock at the door. Soon after Khan appeared inside the briefing room.

"You are not allowed in here," Yemo growled, "Get out."

Khan released a heavy sigh, wanting nothing more than to kill the man. Instead he calmed himself and spoke rather softly.

"I understand this is a private meeting…" Khan began.

"THEN GET OUT!" Yemo screamed.

Khan growled heavily, pulled out a laser pistol, set the weapon's stun feature and shot Yemo. The Illuminati agent fell backwards in his chair was out cold. After a few seconds, everyone could hear snoring coming from his direction.

"I'm sorry I did that, but I have some rather important information that can wait for someone with no patience," Khan sighed.

Lockly looked at the spot where Yemo lay, unconscious and then back at Khan as the superman was putting his weapon back in its holster.

"I understand," Lockly answered, "He's on our nerves to, but remember, Mr. Khan, that he is technically your superior. You can not shot, even if it is to stun, a superior officer. You will be formally reprimanded for your action."

Khan sighed, knowing that his temper had gotten him into some trouble.

"What is this information you've uncovered?" Lockly answered.

"One of my patrols came across some of the people that attacked the base," Khan answered, "They were camped out to the west of this position in an old monastery."

Lockly watched as Khan motioned to someone outside. Shortly afterward, several supermen drug in several dead bodies. All of which smelled like they had been over an intense fire for several minutes.

"What is that?" one Illuminati investigator asked.

"The bodies of those killed," Khan answered, "Reports indicated that there were a few gargoyles among them as well."

"Why did you bring them here?" Lockly asked.

"I noticed that certain members of your team were very skeptical about my explanation as to what happened here and that if the bodies were presented later, it would not matter," Khan answered.

"You needn't have worried, Mr. Khan," Lockly answered, "With the exception Yemo, we do not believe you or your men are responsible for the events that took place, at least not in anyway that can be punished. Are the rest of us agreed that it was an act of carelessness on the part of command that lead to this incident?"

The other investigator's nodded.

"You have done no wrong, Mr. Khan," Lockly answered, "And it's about time I gave my final report. It would be best that you joined me."

"Of course," Khan nodded and then turned to the other supermen, and ordered, "Dispose of the bodies."

"Yes sir," the other supermen acknowledged.

A few minutes later, Lockly and Khan stood before the communications screen with the Illuminati Council member known as Five on it.

"You are certain that is what happened?" Five questioned.

"That is what the evidence points to us, sir," Lockly answered, "Agent Yemo is convinced otherwise, but I'm sure you'll hear plenty in his report."

The hooded image of Five nodded.

"My team will be returning to the Nepal base tomorrow," Lockly stated, "Our mission here is over."

Five again nodded, "The Council will be meeting soon to discuss who to send to the Tibet base to run our operations there."

Lockly and Khan nodded.

"Also, Khan, your men are not to engage in any more patrols for the time being," Five added, "These bandits that attacked the base have deeply disturbed the Council, and we will have the Chinese government strengthen their military presence in Tibet. It will be their job to find the rest of these barbarians."

"Of course sir," Khan acknowledged, "Anything to serve."

"Good," Five responded.

The screen then faded to black as Five terminated the connection.

The next day, Khan and his second watched the investigation team depart from the Tibetan base. Yemo had been very cross once he woke up, but Agent Lockly had kept the temperamental man in line.

"Your plans are working well, so far sir," his second commented.

"Yes," Khan smiled, "but our work is far from finished. The Council will strengthen the Chinese military position here in Tibet shortly, and it will not be long before they finish training and send a new Tibetan team. We must prepare now for a rebellion that will change the world."

**The End…**


	2. Meetings and Plots

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights are intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place one month after "Prelude to Rebellion".

Meetings and Plots

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Ishimura, Japan**

Kai looked quietly out over the roof tops that made up the Japanese village where his clan dwelled. Patrols had been quiet as few thieves or other criminals had been active in the region. His mind was meanwhile deep in thought over matters that had passed a long time before.

**The Past**

Kai stood firmly over an ashamed looking Yama. The leader of the Japanese clan was deeply disappointed by the fact that Yama had helped Taro in the human's plan to turn his clan into a living tourist attraction.

"You have dishonored yourself by your actions," Kai said to the other male.

"I know," Yama said weakly, "I thought Taro truly wanted to help our clan, but I was deceived. It was my own fault for listening to him. I deserve my punishment."

Yama then pulled a Japanese katana from his belt and handed it to Kai. The male then bowed, and held his head low. Sora standing nearby looked horrified, but could do nothing. Yama's actions amounted to what humans referred to as treason in the modern world. They also knew the penalty for such actions.

Kai raised the blade, as if preparing to strike, but then deliberately dropped it to the ground.

"I can not kill you," Kai spoke, "There was honor in your motive, not in your action. You are to be exiled for a minimum of one year. After that period, once you have regained your honor in the eyes of the clan, you may return."

Yama stood up and looked at Kai with a confused look on his face.

"You are my friend, Yama," Kai said, "And Sora's mate. I will not strike a friend or put my second through such pain."

Yama gave only a weak nod and left, quietly. Kai and Sora stood there and watched as Yama glided off.

**The Present**

"I thought he would have returned by now," Kai commented.

"Yama's honor was always important to him," Sora said from behind him, "He will not return until he feels he has restored his honor to himself before he comes for the clan's tests."

Kai turned back in shock, surprised to see his second there.

"You always come here when you are thinking," Sora answered before he could ask.

"It has been more than three years since I exiled Yama," Kai replied, "Certainly he has found some way to restore his honor."

"He will not view stopping common thieves as a way of restoring his honor," Sora answered, "More than likely he is looking for some great injustice."

"Do you think he has left Japan?" Kai asked.

"I do not know," Sora answered.

**Fukuoka, Japan**

Yama stood quietly on the roof of an apartment building overlooking the sea. He had traveled up and down the island nation in search of some great problem that he had to fight. There had been nothing of that nature that he could find in Japan. He had seen the news reports of things happening in mainland, and part of him wondered if there might be someone there who needed help.

Elsewhere another group had made it onto another rooftop. It was a mixed group of gargoyles and humans. The humans all wore robes while the gargoyles all wore modified versions of ancient Chinese clothing. There were also several hatchlings among them.

"I do not like this," Je Lu commented, "I remember the stories from the elders about what happened when the Japanese came to China. Human men and women were butchered because they were Chinese. Some of the rumors included gargoyles participating in their butchery."

"I remember the stories as well," Shi La commented, "But you can not let them dominate your thoughts. Besides, the elders also admitted that much of their information came from Nationalist soldiers who had been forced to retreat."

"The Japan of today is also nothing like the Japan of the 1930s and 1940s," Fang Shui commented, "Their own constitution limits them to a very minor defense force that would stand no chance of victory if Japan were attacked. They are dependent upon the United States for protection from Communist China and Communist North Korea, and for many years the Soviet Union."

"Besides," one of the other monks spoke up, "It was difficult enough getting across China and the Koreas. We'll only be here long enough till we can glide to the islands that Russia controls."

"And then to America's Aleutians," Je Lu nodded, "I understand the route we are taking and why, but something about this nation still makes me uneasy."

"Let's just be on our way then," Fang Shui commented, "We need to head north."

Je Lu nodded and quickly lifted the chief monk into his arms and took off from the roof of the building they were on. They had glided in a northwardly direction over a few apartments when they all suddenly heard a voice call out to them in Japanese.

"Hello! Wait!" the voice called out.

Je Lu looked to see that it was in fact a gargoyle coming up from another apartment building.

"Another gargoyle," one of the hatchlings in Je Lu's clan commented almost excitedly.

"What did he say?" Je Lu asked Fang Shui.

"I don't know Japanese," Fang Shui admitted, "The monks and I only learned about things going on in Japan after the war ended from American OSS agents trying to stabilize China."

There was a brief silence before Fang Shui spoke again.

"Judging by his facial expression and gestures, I think he wants us to wait," Fang Shui commented.

"We will talk, if that is what he wants," Je Lu ordered to the others, "Perhaps he knows Chinese."

Je Lu and his clan then landed on a nearby roof and carefully set the monks down so that they wouldn't fall. The Japanese gargoyle was quick to follow suit. He landed in the middle of the assembled Chinese gargoyles so that all could hear them.

"Amazing," Yama spoke with a polite bow, sounding far more curious then he intended, "From what Goliath and Elisa told my clan when they visited was that there were very few other gargoyle clans out there, and my clan has found no others in Japan. Where are you from? What brings you all the all way out to Japan?"

"Um, I'm sorry if this troubles you, but do you know Chinese?" Je Lu asked the new gargoyle, "We do not know Japanese."

Yama paused and blinked. The new gargoyles didn't speak Japanese, and he couldn't understand the language. He recognized it as Chinese, but he still couldn't understand it. It confused him, since when Goliath, Elisa, and Angela arrived at Ishimura, they had all spoken perfect Japanese, despite the fact that none of them looked remotely oriental. He looked down embarrassed when he realized the language barrier made it impossible for him to communicate with them.

"I don't think he speaks Chinese," Shi La commented.

Je Lu only sighed, "This is a waste of time..."

Yama quickly decided to try basic sign language. One of the rookery brothers had studied various languages with one of the priests that frequently visited the temple where Kai had made the clan's home. He knew he couldn't stay there, but if his brother could translate for them, perhaps these outsiders had a way in which he could restore his honor. He made motions indicating for them to follow him.

"I think he wants us to follow him?" Fang Shui noticed the Japanese gargoyle's gestures.

"We can't understand him," Je Lu argued, "We should continue on our way."

"Perhaps he knows someone who does," Fang Shui countered, "If that's true, perhaps we can get help."

"That would be wise," Shi La added, "Perhaps he knows Demona and could help us in getting to New York."

Je Lu sighed and then motioned for his clan to follow the strange gargoyle.

**Tibet**

Khan sat quietly looking over the paperwork that crossed his desk every day and night. He barely noticed his second coming into the room.

"Sir?" his second spoke to get Khan's attention.

Khan looked up to see his second in command standing there.

"Yes," Khan replied, "What is the status?"

"The Tibetan governors and the government in Beijing have reconciled their differences," the second reported, "explaining that it was all merely a misunderstanding coming from a lower ranking official sending his report directly to Beijing instead of to the provincial leadership."

"As expected," Khan commented, "All dictatorial governments will have these sort of hiccups every now and then. What is the status of our build up?"

"Our raiding parties have been successful in ambushing several Chinese patrols and taking their heavy equipment," the second answered, "Some of the Chinese soldiers have been killed, but as ordered, most have been left alive."

"The recruitment?" Khan asked.

"As I thought, very few of the Tibetan people are willing to undergo the secret training," the second answered, "and three have had to be killed because of their connections to either the Communist Party or to the Illuminati."

"Keep working at it," Khan instructed, "Eventually some will break, and even if all of them don't, I want those that do, trained."

"Yes sir," the second nodded.

"How is Operation Distraction proceeding?" Khan asked.

"Operations to keep the Illuminati council trying to find new scientists to take over this facility are proceeding as planned," the second answered, "Most candidates have successfully been assassinated or their records have been sufficiently tarnished that they would not get the assignment."

"Good," Khan nodded, "The longer we can keep them focused on internal matters, the longer we can prevent them from discovering what we are doing here. That will allow us to wait until we are ready to rebel."

"I have the written reports here for you, sir," the second said while placing them on Khan's desk.

Khan took them and flipped through the folders that his second had handed him.

"Excellent," Khan smiled, "I want you to send one of our diplomats on a tour of the Middle East."

"Whatever for?" the second asked.

"A further distraction," Khan smiled, "The real enemy we have to worry about is America. Once we've secured power in China, no one should be a real problem, but while we are still only a mere 'faction' the United States will oppose us because a civil war in China will hurt their trade. It will hurt trade around the world, but the difference is the United States is the only country likely to do anything about it. Russia is still trying to sort itself out after the fall of the Soviet Union. France and much of Europe don't want to fight at all, mostly being visited by ghosts of the Second World War, no doubt. America will be the only major power that will support China when our uprising comes. If they are too busy dealing with the Arabs in the Middle East, then there is little they can actually do. The Arab's plans will belong solely to them, but I feel they will prove quite useful."

"Yes sir," the second saluted and left the room.

**Ishimura, the next night**

It was nearly midnight when Yama spotted the rooftops of village where his clan dwelled. The foreign gargoyles slowly followed behind him, but it was obvious to Yama that they were uncomfortable with the fact that they were following him and that they couldn't understand him. He heard what sounded like arguing several times over the course of the previous night and so far tonight. It was obvious to him that they didn't like his presence, but if they needed help, he might be able to help them if it weren't for the language barrier.

As they got closer to where the clan lived, Yama motioned to the others to land and pointed to the Ishimuran clan's home.

"We have guests coming," one of the younger Ishimuran males reported to Kai inside the temple.

"Guests?" Kai asked, "Has Hiroshi brought friends over for discussion or for lessons? Have Goliath and his compatriots returned?"

"No," the male answered, "It is Yama, and he has brought a whole clan of gargoyles with him."

"Yama?" Kai gasped getting up and quickly following the male outside.

Kai found that the male's report was very accurate. Yama had indeed returned and returned with several gargoyles that resembled Chinese dragons. The Ishimuran leader moved quickly to greet his friend.

"Yama, you've returned," Kai spoke calmly, "I trust you are ready to undergo the trials?"

Yama looked down, "No, I am not. I have not regained my honor and am not fit to attempt them, but I need to borrow Yoshi for a few minutes."

"Yoshi?" Kai asked.

"Yes," Yama nodded and gestured to Je Lu and his clan, "I found this clan while I was in Fukuoka, but I do not believe they are from the mainland. They do not speak Japanese. I need him to interpret their story for me."

"Do you know exactly where they are from?" Kai asked.

"China, I would thing, by their looks," Yama commented, "But since I can not understand their language, I can not be sure."

Kai nodded and turned to the male that had informed him of Yama's arrival and ordered, "Go get Yoshi. Quickly now."

The male nodded and ran back into the temple. Je Lu and his clan nervously watched the commotion go on around them. Various gargoyles began to appear from different sections of the temple to see what was going on. The Chinese leader quickly had the others get his clan's younglings and the monks behind the adults. Despite Fang Shui's urgings to trust the Japanese gargoyle, Je Lu was still very nervous around the Japanese gargoyle. Mostly because he couldn't understand a word of what had been said. After a few minutes a small yellow skinned male came running up to the male that they had encountered the night before and the larger male that he had been involved in the earlier discussion with. The three then carefully approached Je Lu and his clan.

Yoshi, Ishimura's chief librarian and translator walked carefully up with Yama and Kai.

"What should I say?" Yoshi asked.

"Introductions first," Kai said firmly, "If they know who we are, they are more likely to trust us."

Yoshi nodded, and then began speaking to Je Lu and his clan, "Greetings, and welcome to Ishimura, Japan. Home to our clan. I am Yoshi, the clan's librarian and studier of languages, therefore in situations like this, I will be your interpreter."

Yoshi then gestured to Yama, "This gargoyle, is called Yama, currently he is an exile from our clan, but his time period of exile is over, but he has decided to continue it to restore his honor."

Yoshi then motioned to Kai, "This is Kai, the leader of our clan here. May we enquire as to who you are?"

Je Lu felt like he was finally getting somewhere. He hoped that this 'Yoshi' could provide them in helping them find Demona. He stepped forward to address the Japanese gargoyle.

"My name is Je Lu," Je Lu spoke, "My clan and I come from Tibet, China."

Yoshi repeated Je Lu's words in Japanese to Yama and Kai. Je Lu then watched as Kai asked Yoshi a question. Yoshi nodded and then turned back to face Je Lu.

"What brings your clan so far?" Yoshi asked, "You have brought far too many for this be a simple vacation."

"Strange humans that are not native to Asia attacked our monastery where we lived in Tibet," Je Lu answered, "Some of my clan have been killed as well as a few of the human monks, whom we shared the monastery with. Our home has been destroyed and we must find some way to stop our attackers from causing more trouble. But we need to get to New York and ask for assistance of a female named Demona."

Again Yoshi translated Je Lu's message into Japanese. Kai and Yama exchanged glances.

"Do you know why they attacked you?" Yama asked.

Yoshi translated Yama's question.

Je Lu shook his head, "No. We do not know the reason why. Whatever the reason though, they were cold blooded about it."

"You think they will cause more evil?" Kai asked after Yoshi had translated Je Lu's answer.

Je Lu listened to the translation and then nodded, "I believe so, but they are much more power than average humans and none of my clan are particularly skilled warriors. We need Demona's help to stop them."

"Who is Demona?" Kai asked, "You said she is from New York. Does she know a gargoyle named Goliath?"

Je Lu listened to the translation again.

"I do not know personally or know of a 'Goliath'," Je Lu answered, "But Demona was a female gargoyle who came to our monastery in the past needing help. We helped her, and now we hope that she will help us."

"Tell them that I would be willing to help them," Yama volunteered, "I could train their people to be efficient warriors."

"Teach them Bushido?" Kai asked, "The would take time if they accept it and they may have a cultural belief that is different from ours."

"Tell them I am willing to help them fight these strange humans that attacked them," Yama repeated.

Yoshi nodded and then repeated Yama's message in Chinese.

"But we do not know Japanese and he doesn't know Chinese," Je Lu answered, "How would we work together."

This made Yoshi, Kai, and Yama stop to think.

"Must you help them?" Kai asked, "You've lived out your term of exile, all you need to do is face the trials. We have all missed you. Sora especially."

"I can not undergo the clan's tests until I have passed my own," Yama answered firmly, "My actions with Taro were completely wrong. I have not done anything that would restore my honor. Helping Je Lu and his clan would do that, especially if their story about what these 'supermen' have done to them is accurate."

"It still doesn't change the fact that you do not know their language and that they do not know ours," Yoshi commented, "You would be better served to remain here and let them be on their way."

"What if you came with me, to be my interpreter?" Yama asked.

"I'm not an exile!" Yoshi said quickly.

"Given the length of time that Yama has been gone, I wouldn't count him as an 'exile' either," Kai commented, "Besides, we rarely get foreign visitors here, and they are usually human and will be accompanied by Hiroshi. I ask you, Yoshi, to be Yama's translator. It would give you something to do besides sit in the library every night and make sure everything is cataloged."

"Is that an order, Kai?" Yoshi asked.

Kai paused for a moment and then nodded, "I suppose it is."

Yoshi then turned again to Je Lu and his clan, "I will accompany Yama to translate for him and for you."

Je Lu glanced at the other two males behind Yoshi. Kai looked somewhat nervous but looked very much like a wise leader. Yama looked somewhat hopeful.

"That would be helpful," Je Lu nodded, "My clan will accept the aide of you, Yama and Yoshi. Perhaps we will need your help in translating another language as necessary, for we must get to New York to meet with Demona. We assume that the population speaks English."

Yoshi translated the message and both Yama and Kai bowed.

"You are most welcome," Yoshi bowed, "But I'm afraid I do not know English. The languages I have studied are all oriental, not occidental."

"Demona knows magic anyway," Shi La pointed out to her mate, "She is the one we need to contact."

"Either way, it will be good to have you along," Je Lu answered.

"When do you want to leave for New York?" Yoshi asked.

"As soon as possible," Je Lu answered.

It took another thirty minutes for them all to establish an actual plan. Kai was saddened that Yama wouldn't face the trials to rejoin the clan, but he still respected the male's code of honor. Both Yama and Yoshi agreed that gliding north across the eastern most sections of Russia and across the Bering Strait to Alaska was the smartest idea, since the Pacific Ocean was too wide elsewhere for them to safely glide. Yoshi had also wished to gather a few things that he felt he needed for the journey and the group eventually had to wait for him. The group then glided off with a few polite good-byes.

**Elsewhere**

"What is the status of establishing a new management and scientific team for the Tibet base?" One asked inside the council room of the Illuminati's hidden headquarters.

"Bumbling along," Five growled in an aggravated voice, "It seems that every time we find someone qualified to take over the operation, the appointee ends up dead or is found to be a poor candidate because of different reasons."

"I think someone is interfering in our business," Six commented, "Thirteen candidates nominated, five dead, two insane, and six of questionable loyalty. Someone is trying to play us."

"I agree," nodded Three, "Unfortunately there are multiple persons who know of the Illuminati and have the funds or willingness to perform such acts."

Three then pressed a button which displayed a list of names holgraphically above the table. Most were already Illuminati members, but some weren't. The names read, David Xanatos, Bill Gates, Merlin Ambrosius, Mathew Bluestone, Martin Hacker, and continued on through a half dozen other names.

"Xanatos, Gates, and Ambrosius can be removed," Four commented, "They have the means, but not the motive. Bluestone and Hacker can also be removed, they do not have the means."

"Duval also has reported no activity of that nature coming from Xanatos," Five sighed, "the man seems more concerned with his gargoyles then with us."

"Which is a good thing," One answered, "What of Yemo's reports about Khan being behind everything himself. Shouldn't we consider that possibility?"

Two shook his head, "Yemo is a paranoid little man. All reports indicate that Khan is loyal, as our programming intended. But, I do think that whoever is doing this is someone not on this list."

"Then who is it?" Three demanded, "We need to know who it is so we can silence them."

"Until we capture one of the assassins, or until the Chinese government is more successful in dealing with their little insurgent problem," Two sighed, "I doubt we will have any success in finding out who we are dealing with."

"We will increase security around possible experienced candidates," One announced, "We should also consider training new people from scratch."

"That could take years!" Four gasped.

"Would you rather go through years of these pointless assassinations?" One questioned.

"No, sir," Four looked down.

"Then are we in favor?" One asked.

The rest of the council nodded in agreement.

"Good," One said in a confident voice, "Five, you are to inform Khan that he will have to maintain his leadership over the Tibet base for a good deal longer because of certain problems. Do not tell him what the problems are, but tell him he will have to maintain his control for longer then anticipated."

"Yes, sir," Five said.

**Tibet**

Khan stood quietly as Five finished explaining the situation.

"This is most disturbing," Khan commented, "My men and I were created to protect the base and the scientists who run it. Yet I am being held here as insurgents threaten the region, and now you tell me that you can not assign a new scientific team?"

"That is the situation," Five answered, "But is not as desperate as you make it out to be. All you need to do is do your job."

"Very well, sir," Khan saluted.

"Good," Five answered, and the screen went black.

Khan's second came in a few minutes later.

"Sir?" the second asked.

"Everything's going according to plan," Khan smiled.

**The End...**


	3. East and West

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place two weeks after "Meetings and Plots".

East and West

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Queen Florence Island**

Natsilane quietly walked along a quiet path along the island. The island had become very beautiful after he had defeated Raven and thanks to Grandmother had remained so. There were some things that worried him however. As he looked back, he remembered that Grandmother had always urged that the follow the ways of his ancestors, and remained with him so long as he disagreed with her. Then, after he finally accepted them and defeated Raven Grandmother left. She promised to talk to him from time to time, but recently, that was no longer possible. He was alone.

**Shortly after the Second Unseelie War ended...**

"Grandmother?" Natsilane spoke into one of the islands small creeks, hoping he could get a chance to talk with Grandmother today, "Grandmother, are you there? I have a question for you."

The water simply moved along its path as it had always done. Grandmother's face did not appear. After a minute or so, he only sighed and prepared to walk back toward the village. A coughing sound stopped him, and he turned to see a man standing behind him. The man was dressed in jeans, a white tee-shirt, and a dark colored jacket and was looking almost like a bearer of bad news. Natsilane soon became curious about the pointed ears.

"Do I know you?" Natsilane asked.

The man sighed, "I'm afraid not. I'm better known in the desert southwest. The northwest coast is not exactly my territory. But, this is something you should know."

"Who are you?" Natsilane demanded, "Why are you here? What do I need to know?"

The man sighed again and looked down, as if to collect his thoughts. From his facial expressions it looked to Natsilane that he was saddened by something, as if he had lost a friend.

"My name is Coyote," he answered slowly, "I'm a fey, like those you've met and dealt with and befriended before."

"Fey?" Natsilane asked, trying to remember several things that Grandmother had told him before she left, "You're not here to harm the land, are you?"

"No," Coyote shook his head, "I may be a trickster, but I've generally tried to teach a lesson, not amuse myself. Not all of us are as bad as Raven was. I'm here, because something has happened."

"What has happened?" Natsilane asked, becoming more confused by the minute.

Coyote sighed again, "The fey community has not been peaceful of late. A tyrannical villain seeking to rule attacked Avalon."

"Is everything alright?" Natsilane asked, trying to figure out what had happened.

"They are now, at least for the world," Coyote replied weakly, "but while the good guys won, it wasn't without cost."

"What happened?" Natsilane demanded urgently.

"Your grandmother is dead," Coyote looking down, "I was trying to find the right way to say this, but I'm afraid I'm at a loss for words that would make this easier."

"Dead?" Natsilane asked, his voice suddenly weak.

"A warrior/trickster fey called Loki killed her," Coyote answered.

"She can't be dead," Natsilane urged, "She taught me everything."

"No fey is truly immortal," Coyote sighed, "Aging and nearly all diseases matter little to our race, but iron and magic are things that can kill us."

"She can't be dead," Natsilane repeated, nearly in tears.

"I'm sorry," Coyote managed to say.

"So what do I do now?" Natsilane asked, "She was the one who knew most of my culture's old ways by heart. I need her help every now and then."

"Again," Coyote said weakly, "I'm sorry for what's happened. If there was anything I could do to fix this, I would."

"I've already missed her, even while she was only on Avalon," Natsilane said weakly, "I don't know what I'm going to do now that she's gone. I don't know what she knows."

"I don't know what she knows, either, but I promise you I'll do anything I can to help," Coyote answered.

"You would help me?" Natsilane asked, "I hardly know you, and you hardly know me. And you said you're of the desert southwest."

"I can help you get through the period of mourning that everyone goes through when a close friend dies," Coyote answered, "And I can help you research anything about your culture that you need."

"I could use someone to talk to about her," Natsilane commented.

Coyote would remain for a week or so talking with Natsilane about their experiences. Natsilane telling of what Grandmother had taught him, Coyote telling of his occasional meetings with Grandmother before the Gathering. At times it surprised Natsilane how close Coyote and Grandmother were. Especially considering how much younger Coyote was. After his experience with Raven, he assumed that all younger fey did not get along with the older fey. But, Coyote and Grandmother had been friends, even though they had only met on a handful of occasions.

"You dealing with everything?" Coyote asked a week later.

Natsilane shrugged, "About as good as I can, but I'll be okay."

Coyote nodded and took a few steps toward the far horizon.

"Coyote," Natsilane spoke up forcing the southwestern fey to stop after a few steps, "Thanks for coming up here."

Coyote turned and snapped his fingers and a small notepad with numbers written on it fell into Natsilane's hands.

"What's this?" Natsilane asked.

"My phone number," Coyote answered, "Remember I told you I'm living back in the mortal world once more..."

"With a rather cute girl," Natsilane finished.

Coyote only smiled, "Yes, but should you ever need help with anything, give me a call."

Coyote then vanished in a flash of green light.

**Present**

Natsilane hadn't run into any problems that would require Coyote's help, so the walk was merely to enjoy nature. And nature around here seemed to be beautiful. He wished that Grandmother was there to see it, but he was largely beginning to get over learning of her death.

"I hope everything I've done is how you would have wanted it," Natsilane thought for a moment before hearing voices coming from a place off of the path.

Natsilane also managed to smell wood burning. He immediately moved to investigate. It was relatively late in the evening, and the sun had already set, so he assumed that some tourist had come onto the island and set up a campsite. He'd politely tell them that camping was not allowed on the island in order to preserve the land and to respect his people. The present fire also indicated meant there was a risk of a forest fire, which Natsilane could not allow. He couldn't let the island go up in flames.

As he got closer, he began to make out the words that were being spoken. All of them were in a foreign language and he couldn't understand them. He hid behind a large tree as he observed the group. He found there was a large group of gargoyles gathered around a small campfire with a few monks as well. All were dressed in oriental clothing and most of the gargoyles seemed to resemble dragons. Two looked more like oriental versions of Goliath and Angela, having more human-like features. The human monks were defi nitely oriental.

"Great," Natsilane thought to himself, "I group of gargoyles has come here, and none of them can speak English, and even less likely able to speak the Haida language. I can't even tell them that it would be better to go to the village."

Then a thought occurred to Natsilane.

"Coyote," Natsilane thought, "Maybe he can help. Now to run back and get his number."

Meanwhile, among the monks and gargoyles, Fang Shui was commenting over the previous leg of the journey. Yoshi translating every word spoken for Yama. "Man, the last week has been the coldest I have seen since Tibet," Fang Shui grumbled, "Thank goodness there is no snow here."

"It is still too cold for my tastes," another monk spoke up, "I wish there was someplace that we could go that is indoors."

"We're still fairly far north," Yoshi spoke up to inform the others, "I think somewhere off the coast of Canada or southern Alaska, both of which are known to have fairly cold climates."

"How long do you think it will take to reach New York?" Je Lu asked the Japanese interpreter.

"Weeks, I'd assume," Yoshi sighed, "Both the United States and Canada span continents. It will surely take time to cross them."

"What of the temperature?" Shi La asked, "The monks could only barely go through 'Alaska' without freezing to death."

Yoshi then pulled out a map that he had taken with him when he had found lying on the ground of a dark alley in Anchorage and began to look at it. After a few moments he sighed before answering the Chinese female.

"It will be cool or cold almost the entire way," Yoshi answered, "We're actually in the 'warmer' parts of our journey right now, and that's only because we're so near the ocean."

Shi La and Je Lu looked toward the monks who huddled closer toward the fire.

"Perhaps we should go looking for something they can keep warm in besides their robes, my love," Shi La spoke to Je Lu.

"Where?" Je Lu sighed, "I did not see any large animals and even if there were, none of us have any sewing material to manufacture the new clothing for them."

"Maybe we should go further south," one of the other males in Je Lu's clan spoke up, "Go to where it's warm and then head north to New York once we get to the next ocean."

"That would take too long," Yama countered, "If these supermen who have caused trouble in Tibet are given more time to plot, who knows what they will accomplish."

The others sighed as Yoshi translated Yama's message.

"But what of the monks?" Je Lu asked, "We must protect them as well."

Yama, himself sighed after he heard Yoshi's translation to him, "I do not know. It appears we will have a trouble if we take either direction."

**Tibet**

Two squads of Chinese infantrymen slowly made their way along a narrow mountain path that lead to a Chinese military base, not more than a mile from the capitol of the province of Tibet. The base was there to provide deterrence in case of an insurrection and from past fear that the Soviets might have invaded from the west to force the Chinese to follow them. Now the concern was truly the Arabs living in the former Soviet republics and in Afghanistan and Pakistan who were preaching radical Islam. The recent rise in incidents, however, showed no connection to any outside threat, and was growing more serious in nature. Chinese patrols and supply convoys were being ambushed. Strangely, most of the soldiers survived the ambush only find that all their equipment had been taken. To respond to this, the military was being ordered to boast the defenses around its bases in Tibet, and particularly the capitol of the province. The soldiers had been flown in from Shanghai and were now escorting a supply truck, carrying fuel and ammunition to the base that the infantrymen were assigned to.

They marched quietly and briskly along the road, hoping that nothing would happen. They scanned the area along the sides of the road. There was nothing that indicated that there was any danger. Then, suddenly, from behind some large rocks, two hand grenades were thrown and landed among each squad of soldiers. When they went off, a pulse went out that knocked everyman in each squad to the ground and flipped the truck over behind them. Each man soon fell unconscious. A small group of men, in gear that camouflaged them perfectly with the ground along the road then stood up and began to approach the scene.

"They're all unconscious," One man said as he checked the bodies of the Chinese soldiers.

"Good," another answered him, "Our leader has ordered that we are to avoid killing our enemies as much as possible for the time being. Strip them of the weapons and equipment."

The man then turned to the rest of the men in his group, "Search the truck"

Then quickly went about their mission and left the scene alone.

"Do not worry," the leader of the group said, "Soon we will be strong enough to throw the Chinese out of this province and can move on to conquering them. They can not defeat our leader."

Khan was meanwhile involved in a very different task.

"What's the status?" Khan asked one of his technicians working in a lab inside their secret base.

The technician turned from the computer screen which appeared to be downloading something very extensive to face his leader.

"We are currently downloaded the world's nuclear launch codes from the Illuminati files," the technician reported, "Thankfully, since our network is still connected to the Illuminati's files, they can't think of us as pirating the information."

"Good," Khan smiled, "How much longer before we have control over the world's nuclear arsenal?"

"We will have full control over every country that uses ICBMs as their primary method of delivery of nuclear weapons within the next five hours," the technician reported.

"Good," Khan smiled, "We wouldn't want the Illuminati to deprive us of ruling the world by blowing it up, now do we?"

"No, we wouldn't," the technician answered, "But this control will only apply to the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, the People's Republic of China, India, and Pakistan. As they are the only declared powers in the Illuminati's list. I have others digging deeper to look at 'suspected' nuclear powers, which includes Israel, and powers that are clandestinely developing nuclear weapons, Iran."

Khan nodded, having read the Illuminati's files with respect to the world's nuclear powers. His current intention was to gain control over the launch codes, so that should any of these nuclear powers attempt to 'nuke' him, he could shut the launch down before they even fueled the missile half way.

"The problem is that the Illuminati did not intend for these various terror networks to grow up out of nowhere," the technician continued, "And they are not likely to be as advanced as a country like the United States is, but nuclear weapons are nuclear weapons, and with the demise of the Soviet Union, large sums of weapons grade plutonium have gone missing. They will eventually oppose us, and I wouldn't it past them to simply drive a car with a warhead in the backseat into a building."

"Hopefully those I have researching the Illuminati's files on the various forms of magic and sorcery will provide us with the means to prevent that," Khan commented, "if not, we can simply use the Illuminati's information to hunt down their cells one by one."

"Of course, sir," the technician answered and returned to his work.

**Arizona**

"Hello?" Beth spoke as she answered the urgently ringing phone.

"Uh, is Coyote there?" a voice asked somewhat urgently from the other line.

Beth pulled the phone back to look at it with a rather curious eye. Most people only knew that she lived there. Only the clan, her family, the Xanatoses, and Titania and her Court knew about Coyote living there as well. The voice didn't sound like any of the gargoyles, her family, or the Xanatoses, and they fey would 'call' Coyote by appearing in a mirror.

"Who is this?" Beth asked, almost immediately.

"My name is Natsilane, but I prefer Nick," the voice answered, "I need to speak to Coyote. Please, it's rather important."

Beth still had no clue as to who 'Nick' was, but was beginning to believe that Coyote had visited someone during one of his many travels and sighed heavily.

"Hold on," Beth instructed and began to walk around the small apartment that she and Coyote were living in, looking for the southwestern fey.

She found him out on a porch looking out over the small town that they were living in.

"Hey," Coyote said when he saw her, "What's up?"

"Nothing much," Beth answered, "You have a phone call from some guy named 'Nick'."

Coyote immediately took the phone and began speaking into it.

"Yeah, what's up?" Coyote spoke, "...uh-huh...uh-huh...wow... Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"So, who's Nick?" Beth asked as Coyote hung up, "Does he live around here? Why didn't you introduce me?"

"Nick is a friend of Grandmother's," Coyote answered, "Remember the elderly fey I told you about?"

Beth nodded, "The one that Loki killed during the Unseelie attack on Avalon."

"Nick is Grandmother's grandson and has been a student of hers before the Gathering," Coyote answered, "I went up there, shortly after we returned to Arizona to tell him what had happened to her. I promised him that I would try to help him as much as I could since Grandmother provided him with much of the guidance when there was something that he didn't know or hadn't learned."

"So, what traditional northwestern ritual do you know that he's needing help for?" Beth asked.

"Actually, he doesn't need any of that kind of help," Coyote shrugged, "Apparently, he's found a large group of 'Asian' gargoyles that can not speak English."

"You can translate languages?" Beth asked.

"I can give Nick the ability to understand them and give them the ability to understand Nick," Coyote answered, "Think of it like a translator."

"Do you need any help?" Beth asked.

"No, I shouldn't be too long," Coyote answered, "I'm pretty sure I'll have to fry my own dinner though. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Beth nodded as Coyote teleported away.

**Queen Florence Island**

Coyote arrived to find Natsilane waiting for him. He looked around and found he was in his lodge in the village.

"You're not watching them?" Coyote asked.

"I don't really want to spy," Natsilane answered, "And my phone and your number were here. I couldn't have called you there if I tried."

"Let's get going then," Coyote answered, "they may even have moved on by now."

Natsilane nodded and began to lead Coyote back down the path that he had taken earlier that lead him to the small encampment. The gathering was still there, and seemed to be in the middle of an intense discussion about something.

"That's them," Natsilane commented.

"And all you want is for them to understand you when you tell them it'd be better to come into the village?" Coyote asked.

Natsilane nodded, "I can't do any more right now when I don't understand a word they're saying."

"Well, I don't think that's too bad," Coyote commented and began to rise into the air, and chanted...

"Visitors from an eastern land,

English you do not understand,

understand the western word,

so all voices, can be heard."

With that, a green light wrapped around both Je Lu and the gargoyles and humans traveling with him and around Natsilane. The Chinese clan was completely startled by the occurrence. Once the light faded, each traveler checked themselves over and the ones next to them. Nothing appeared to have changed.

"What was that?" Shi La asked, in Chinese.

Yama's eyes widened in surprise.

"What is it?" Yoshi asked him.

"I understood her," Yama said back, in Japanese, which caused several of the Chinese gargoyles to look to him, with similar looks of surprise.

"How can that be?" Shi La asked him, "How can you understand? I spoke in Chinese, which you obviously don't know."

"I know I don't understand Chinese," Yama answered, "That's why I brought Yoshi. How I understand you know, I don't know."

Several other members of Je Lu's clan began to wonder how they now understood Yama without it going through Yoshi first. Fang Shui and the monks were now also curious. The sound of footsteps and a new voice speaking startled them.

"You're newfound understanding of each other, and of English would be because of me," said a rather human-like man as he floated in midair above them, while another human approached the campsite from the trees nearby.

Je Lu, Yama, Yoshi, and most of the Chinese clan's males approached both of them with a firm intention on fighting the two intruders. Natsilane began to back away, while Coyote 'stood' firm.

"Hey! Cool it!" Coyote instructed, "We're not here to fight anyone."

"You were spying on us," Je Lu growled.

"We did no such thing," Coyote countered, "And if you want to get technical on offenses, it is you who is in the wrong, not us."

"What!?" Je Lu growled.

Yama meanwhile had grabbed Natsilane and lifted him into the air.

"Explain yourselves," Yama ordered, "It is not proper to spy on people."

"I wasn't spying," Natsilane insisted, "My name is Natsilane, Nick for short. I came across your campsite a little while ago while on a hike..."

"You were spying!" Yama interrupted.

A green light suddenly reached out from around Coyote's hands and pulled all the gargoyles away and sat them down rather roughly.

"Now, if you're through thumping your chests like Tarzan," Coyote commented, "Perhaps you could let Natsilane finish his story."

The group was quite surprised by this and sat in silence.

"The island you've camped on is called Queen Florence Island is home to my people, the Haida," Natsilane explained, "Now while hiking is tolerated, camping outside of the village is prohibited because of the small amount of land that is available for use. I wanted to tell you that you would be welcome to come to the village for the night, but it appeared to me that you wouldn't understand English or the Haida language. So I asked Coyote here to come and give us the ability to understand each other."

"All of this because you couldn't understand us?" Shi La asked, stepping forward.

"And because you would not have understood me," Natsilane answered, "I only wanted to say that you could come into the village for the night and warm up before you continue to wherever it is that you're going."

Je Lu sighed heavily, realizing his overreaction to their appearance and arrival.

"You must pardon us for our actions, Mr. Natsilane," Je Lu answered, "My clan has been through much."

"Why are you so calm?" Yoshi asked, "Is there a clan that lives nearby?"

Natsilane shook his head, "Grandmother told me once that gargoyles used to live here, but for some reason that even she could not explain, they died out. But awhile back a small group of travelers visited the island, and three gargoyles numbered among them."

"Goliath?" Yama asked, "You've met him?"

Natsilane nodded, "Why do you ask?"

"He and his companions visited Japan once," Yama explained.

"They were on a quest determined by Avalon," Coyote explained, "It sent them where they needed to be."

"How do you know all this?" Fang Shui asked, "And how are you able to fly like that?"

"I'm a fey," Coyote answered, "A creature of magic. That green light you saw earlier was simply a spell that will let you understand what others are saying. You're still speaking Chinese, Japanese, and English, respectively, but my magic enables you to hear the words in your own language."

"Well, that will make things much easier from here on out," Yoshi commented, "We don't need a translator anymore."

"Yes, but what a bizarre way to have that problem solved," one of the monks added.

"Well, since getting past the language barrier was all that I was needed for, I really must be going," Coyote answered, "I've got a girlfriend back in Arizona that I need to spend time with."

With that, Coyote gave a respectful bow and vanished as he did so. Je Lu and his clan were very surprised by seeing all this, and Yoshi and Yama were somewhat surprised by seeing the fey's behavior as well.

Natsilane ignored it and continued with his own message, "I will say again that you are welcome to come to the village. You can warm up and continue your journey tomorrow."

"Did your 'Grandmother' explain to you about gargoyles?" Je Lu asked.

Natsilane shook his head.

"We sleep during the day and will have to continue our journey tonight," Je Lu explained.

"Where are you going?" Natsilane asked.

"We must journey to New York to rendezvous with a female gargoyle named Demona," Fang Shui answered.

"At least come back to my hut for a bit and get some warm clothes," Natsilane urged, "The Rockies are always cold this time of year and New York has recently had a very bizarre streak of wet and cold weather. You'll need clothing that can keep you warm."

"You would provide this for us?" Fang Shui asked.

"No offense, but you look like you're freezing," Natsilane answered, "I think you'll need it."

"We thank you for your generosity," one of the monks told him.

"It's the least I could do," Natsilane answered

Natsilane then began to lead the monks back toward the path while the gargoyles remained around their campfire, which was beginning to die out.

"Make sure the fire is out before you come to the village," Natsilane told them.

"I think we will remain here," Je Lu spoke, "Cold temperatures do not bother us. We will put out the fire though. Thank you for helping our friends."

"Don't mention it," Natsilane answered and began to walk away.

Fang Shui and the monks returned about an hour later with their robes folded in their arms. Each monk was wearing a light jacket and a pair of pants.

"The people in his village were most generous," Fang Shui commented as he approached Je Lu and one of the Tibetan clan's females, "Mr. Natsilane gave us socks, but the other villagers donated the pants and jackets and shoes."

"Yes, and they're warm clothes too," another monk added.

"It is good that you feel comfortable," Je Lu nodded, "But we must be going now."

"Of course," Fang Shui nodded.

**Tibet**

Khan stood before the communications screen, this time, talking with one of his operatives sent to the Middle East.

"It seems things are better than expected," Khan commented.

"Yes," the commando nodded, "But, I'm afraid that Mr. Bin Laden will not be ready to act as your decoy until fall of 2001. I am under the assumption that our uprising is to occur sooner."

"We can push it back if necessary," Khan replied, "I trust you did not tell Bin Laden that he is only my decoy to keep America out of my affairs."

"I did not, sir," the commando answered, "but I will say sir, it was hard. The man is absolutely mad."

"Maybe," Khan smiled, "But even madmen have their uses. Continue with your mission."

"Yes, sir," the commando saluted.

**The End...**


	4. Infiltration

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place one week after "East and West".

Infiltration

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Shanghai, China**

Ten men, all in commando gear and wearing masks, stood on top of a warehouse building overlooking the military docks. They silently viewed three warships sitting at anchor.

"How many guards do you suppose they will have?" the first commando asked.

"What intelligence read off of the Illuminati's supply manifestos is that each ship has ten guards posted above decks," the second answered, "in addition to their normal compliment of 'People's Marines' to guard ship's lower decks."

"Sounds like a difficult task," the third commando commented.

"To the United States maybe," a fourth laughed, "But we are far more superior to any soldier in either 'the East' or 'the West'."

The rest of the commandos laughed and nodded in agreement.

"What is the plan, sir?" the tenth commando then asked the lead one.

"Fix silencers to your laser weapons," the first commando ordered, "We don't want all of them to jump us at once. We will pick off all the guards they have above deck and then move through each ship and deal with the guards they have below decks."

"What about the rest of the troops the Chinese have stationed near the city?" the sixth commando questioned.

"We have other small units in scattered locations that can provide a good distraction to allow our mission to succeed," the first commando answered, "Once we've cleared out each ship, our engineering teams will arrive to strip each warship of its anti-aircraft weaponry."

Han Gei stood quietly at his post on the bow of the ship, Shanghai. He and the other members of his unit were assigned to guard the ship and two of its sister ships while their crews were given a brief leave for the time being. He was somewhat surprised that the normal complement of troops that each ship needed to maintain order onboard were still present as well, but he assumed it was because of the growing insurgency problem in Tibet. The officials in Beijing were not going to take any chances.

A sudden 'thump' startled him and he peaked out from behind the turret for the front thirty seven millimeter guns to see one of the other guards laying dead on the bow.

"Shang!" Han yelled in surprise and ran to his friend's side.

When arrived he was able to confirm what he already feared. His friend was dead. A laser blast of some sort had gone through his skull and killed him instantly. Han heard the sound of the other guards on the Shanghai moving to where they view what was going on on the bow.

"Someone shot Shang!" Han yelled.

He looked back toward the bridge to see several flashed of red light fly through the air and hit many of the other guards on the deck.

"No," Han gasped and got up to try and check on the others, but he felt something go through his right shoulder, knocking him off of the ship.

It took the commandos less then three minutes to kill or seriously wound all of the guards that were above decks. Each then looked around the ground level and the other buildings. Everything was quiet.

"Did the top level guards sound any alarm?" the first commando questioned.

The third commando pulled out a small palm-pilot like device and activated it. After a few seconds he shook his head.

"No, sir," the third commando spoke, "The ship's normal compliment should not know anything."

"Good," the first commando nodded, "Begin making your way onto the first ship."

The other commandos nodded and slowly began to walk towards a series of fire escapes that they had used to get onto the roof the warehouse. The streets remained quiet as they crossed the street and boarded the Shanghai. The commandos then spread throughout the ship's interior and surprised most if not all of the Chinese troops that were below decks. They then moved on to repeat the same process with the other two ships. The whole process took roughly an hour.

"Ships are clear," the tenth commando reported as they gathered on the bow of the last patrol boat.

"Good," the first answered and pulled out cell phone, "Strike team to extraction unit. Chinese ships are in our possession."

"Excellent," he heard an educated sounding voice answer, "Master Khan will be most pleased with our success."

**Idaho, USA**

"I'm sorry I slowed us down by having us go this way," Rachel Winters commented as she and Merlin drove through a back road, now in Idaho.

"I don't have the money to pay for airplane tickets if we're going to have to make various connection flights," Merlin answered, "And since organizing everything we've found so far that might help in anyway took longer then I anticipated, it would be best if we were not in the middle of some city for the next three nights."

Rachel slowly nodded, "Yeah, my howling would give me away."

Merlin sighed and looked out over the horizon to see that the sun was beginning to set. They would need to stop and make camp soon. He slowed his vehicle and prepared to look for a suitable camping site.

Elsewhere, Fang Shui sighed as he watched he sun set. They had not made much progress since their encounter at Queen Florence Island. Once Yoshi was sure they were south of the Canadian border, they hit high mountains, many of them having snow. While the clothing that Natsilane had given them kept them warm, and while there was an abundance of strong winds around the mountains, many of the Tibetan clan's hatchlings had some trouble navigating the wind.

Finding places for the gargoyles to sleep during the day was another task. Many of the places that were suitable for the clan to rest were too conspicuous. Most of the spots that were more secluded were not safe for the clan to sleep. Currently they had camped in a small and secluded campground. One of the other monks had gone to explore the area, but found he could not read the signs. Coyote's spell apparently only allowed them to understand spoken English.

The sounds of cracking stone broke Fang Shui away from his thoughts and he turned to watch Je Lu and his clan, along with Yoshi and Yama wake up.

"Good evening," Je Lu greeted he shrugged off the last bits of stone, "Did you have a good day?"

Fang Shui nodded, "It was a very quiet day today. One of the other monks saw a deer. A very peaceful creature."

"That is good to…" Je Lu began when he what looked like headlights appear on the path behind Fang Shui, "Some one is coming."

Fang Shui turned to see what looked like a sports utility vehicle approaching their campsite.

"Hide, before they see you," Fang Shui said urgently.

Je Lu and the others nodded and moved off into the forest, hoping to get out of sight quickly. Thankfully the hatchlings put up no argument. Fang Shui turned to watch the vehicle come to a stop not that far away from him. The doors opened to reveal a middle aged man with white hair and a short beard and a woman in her twenties with brown hair. The man looked around at the area, but it was apparently the woman that noticed Fang Shui and the monks.

"Merlin, we're not alone," the woman spoke.

The man, Merlin, turned to look in the direction in which the woman was looking. He saw a small group of men wearing plain jeans and moderate jackets. All of them looked somewhat surprised by the sight of the other people.

"Um, may I ask who you are?" Merlin asked.

"We were about to ask you the same question," Fang Shui commented.

The man nodded, "My name is Merlin Hawkins, and this is my associate Rachel Winters. We were looking for a nice quiet place."

"Well, this place is very quiet," Fang Shui answered, "My name is Fang Shui. I am from Tibet."

"Are you staying here long?" Merlin asked.

"Not long actually," Fang Shui answered, "My monks are taking a tour of this country."

"You've picked a very beautiful spot to tour," Rachel commented from behind Merlin.

"So, what relation is Miss Winters to you?" Fang Shui asked curiously.

"Student," Merlin answered, "I have been tutoring her for the tasks needed for her to continue on in life."

"Is she your daughter?" Fang Shui asked.

"No, why do you ask?" Merlin replied.

"It is rather strange that a man of your age would come out into this wilderness with a young woman as his only company…" Fang Shui commented.

"We are not involved romantically," Merlin insisted, "Our relationship is purely professional."

Fang Shui then noticed something that the woman, Rachel, was doing. She appeared to be sniffing the air and slowly walking around the monks toward where Je Lu and the gargoyles had gone to hide.

"Is there something wrong, Miss Winters?" Fang Shui asked getting her attention.

Rachel snapped out of her daze and looked over at Fang Shui.

"I thought I heard something," Rachel answered, "Did you hear something?"

Fang Shui shook his head, "I'm afraid we did not, but then again it is nighttime in a dark forest. No telling what could be out there."

Rachel sighed and looked up at the full moon, slowly rising. She new that if she hadn't assumed her wolf form by midnight her change would come automatically. She hoped that Merlin could find a way to get her to conceal herself somewhere out of the monk's eyes where she could change and then rest for the night. She glanced to see that the monks were wanting to talk amongst themselves and pulled Merlin aside.

"They aren't alone," Rachel whispered, "I can smell gargoyles. They have gargoyles with them, but I think they're hiding."

"You don't think they mean any ill will?" Merlin asked.

"More then likely they're protecting the gargoyles, I think," Rachel whispered.

"Interesting," Merlin commented, "I wonder what would get Tibetan gargoyles and monks to come this far. We must find out, if we can get them to trust us with the knowledge of the gargoyles."

"The woman is strange," one of the monks whispered to Fang Shui, "She was sniffing the air like a hunting dog. She could not have just 'heard' something."

"You don't suppose they're after the clan?" Fang Shui asked, "Agents of the 'supermen'?"

"I don't know, but we can not leave until they nod off," the monk who had spoken first whispered again, "just to make sure."

Fang Shui sighed, "Hopefully that will not be too long."

**Tibet**

Khan sat quietly in his main office reviewing the reports of his progress. Everything was going well at the moment. Khan knew it had to though. The Illuminati was a global secret society and he doubted that there was anything that its influence didn't reach. In order to counteract this he had done two things. One was a secret increase in the number of 'supermen' that the facility was producing to form the backbone of the army he was building. The other was to send agents throughout the world to make sure that the Illuminati were too busy with matters elsewhere to look at China, and specifically Tibet. So far everything was going according to plan.

"Sir?" his second in command asked as he poked his head into the office.

"Yes, what is it?" Khan asked as he looked up.

"Team Hijack is on the secure line, and they wish to make their report," Khan's second answered.

"Very good," Khan stood up, "We'll see how our preparations are coming along."

He then got up and began to follow his second in command to the main communications room. On the screen, he saw the image of one of his men, and it looked like he was sitting on a truck.

"Sir," the man saluted.

"What is your report?" Khan asked.

"We've obtained the anti-aircraft weapons and ammunition from three Chinese patrol boats in Shanghai and are on our way back to base," the man reported, "The Illuminati passes have kept every checkpoint and real Chinese military unit from inspecting our trucks. They believe we are bringing more supplies to the troops already in Tibet."

Khan nodded.

"I believe we can make it back to the base in three days, if conditions remain the same, and the roads to the base have been kept clear," the man reported.

Khan nodded. In addition to many of the raiding missions in which he had Chinese military equipment stolen, he had also obtained several pieces of machinery that were necessary for constructing roads. With them he had carved out a wide path from his base to the nearest road that the Chinese government had constructed. The road wasn't very safe, in the sense that it was always at risk for being covered in snow, and there was of course the risk of the road collapsing in a rock slide, as Khan had not taken any measures to see if the ground itself was safe to build on, but the road allowed his men to bring in greater amounts of supplies that they would need, including weapons and equipment. The road itself also didn't look as if there was a road there, so that maintained the base's secrecy.

"I would not anticipate things to go that well, though," Khan warned, "They aren't stupid. They will eventually learn that their ships were attacked. Always expect a fight, wherever you go."

The man nodded, "Will we have air cover?"

"We do not have such technology at this time," Khan answered, "Your laser rifles should be able to deal with any aircraft or missile that comes your way."

"Yes, sir," the man saluted and the screen went black.

"Should we have the 'Tibetan Insurgents' claim the attack on the ships?" Khan's second asked.

"No," Khan answered, "That story is small right now and I would prefer it to stay that way. It will allow us to continue our efforts to persuade the people of Tibet to side with us. Have Taiwan claim responsibility for the raid."

"Yes, sir," Khan's second nodded.

**Idaho**

Je Lu and Shi La watched quietly as the monks tried to figure out these strange newcomers. They had been talking for several hours, and it seemed to be a rather friendly conversation.

"They certainly seem friendly," Shi La commented.

"The female makes me nervous," Je Lu answered, "Her scent is different from the males, and even his doesn't smell entirely human."

"Entirely human?" Shi La whispered.

"Their scents are different in some way from the monks's scents," Je Lu answered, "And I'm not talking about their individual scents, I'm talking about the basic scent that identifies them as humans. The male has some scent that is similar to that fey, Coyote. The female, strangely, has the scent of a wolf in with her own."

"That's the silliest thing I've ever heard," Shi La answered.

Rachel meanwhile was becoming more and more nervous. Midnight wasn't that far away an she and Merlin hadn't gotten to a point where they could reveal who and what they really were.

"It's getting pretty late," Fang Shui commented, "Don't you think it's time to turn in?"

"Is it?" Merlin asked, "I hadn't noticed. It is interesting to me that you would want to tour America."

Rachel glanced up at the full moon, seeing that it was nearing midnight.

"Around his time of the month, I can never sleep at night," Rachel said weakly, "But I do need to change cloths."

"Insomnia?" Fang Shui asked.

Rachel sighed and turned to Merlin and said, "It think we have to tell them we know…"

Merlin glanced up and slowly nodded.

"Know what?" Fang Shui asked.

"We know you have gargoyles with you," Rachel answered as she pulled her sweater off, revealing the upper half of the jumpsuit that Merlin had conjured up for her to wear during the full moon or when she was in wolf form, "And don't deny it. I know there are gargoyles nearby."

"How?" one of the other monks demanded while getting up, as if to fight.

"Lycanthropy," Rachel answered as she slipped out of her shoes and prepared to take her pants down, revealing the rest of the jumpsuit she wore in wolf form, "I'm a werewolf… and Merlin and I associate with the gargoyle clan in London. I recognized their scent."

"Lycanthropy?" Fang Shui asked, startled by the woman's comments.

"Werewolf," Rachel answered simply, "Tonight, tomorrow night, and the night after that, I have to change into a large wolf creature."

The monks looked at her with a mixture of shock and horror. It didn't look as if they believed what the woman had said. Rachel, meanwhile felt her body temperature begin to rise. She looked up to see that the moon had reached its highest point for the night.

"That is impossible," another monk spoke.

"Just watch," Rachel answered as her voice grew rougher.

Rachel then gripped her stomach as the pain of her transformation set in. Her canines were already lengthening into her wolf fangs again. Her musculature was slowly growing larger. She screamed as she felt her hands become larger and her feet begin to stretch longer. Her finger and toe nails were slowly lengthening into claws. She felt herself growing taller as she rose up onto the balls of her feet and as her legs lengthened slightly.

The monks backed away in fear as the watched the process continued. The woman was already standing like a gargoyle on powerful wolf-like legs and feet. Her hands had grown much larger and become almost paw like, and the woman now sported strong claws on each and foot. Fur was beginning to appear on her body. Her chest, torso, and hips were starting to grow much larger. The woman's screams were slowly sounding more like growls and snarls as her teeth and grown as large as they could, considering that she still had a human mouth.

Rachel snarled heavily as the focus of her transformation changed. Fur was beginning to cover her body, and she could feel her ears moving toward the top of her head. She felt pressure begin to build up in her face. She then roared with pain as she felt her face push out into a muzzle and her fangs grew to their full size. The pressure then moved to her backside. In less then a second she felt her bushy tail begin to push its way out. Once it had grown out to its full length, Rachel felt her muscles that controlled the tail moving to make her tail wag, as she lifted her head to the moon and howled.

Merlin sat quietly as Rachel went through her transformation. He was somewhat depressed that this was the way everything was turning out, but there was something that surprised him. Rachel's transformation had triggered the appearance of many of the gargoyles, who had come out to come out to protect the monks.

"Rachel are you alright?" Merlin asked.

Rachel opened her now golden eyes and slowly nodded.

"Everything hurts until I feel my tail push out," Rachel answered, "It's the transition between either wolf and human or human and wolf that hurts. I'm fine now."

"That's good," Merlin commented.

"Their gargoyles are here," Rachel spoke.

"You will not harm these monks, beast," Yama vowed, his eyes glowing.

Rachel whimpered and backed away, "And why would I want to?"

That made many of the gargoyles blink in surprise. They hadn't anticipated such a retort.

"Because the supermen sent you after us," Je Lu answered.

"He's a comic book character," Rachel answered, "Superman."

"Supermen," Shi La spoke, "Not an individual, we don't know who they are by name."

"We don't know any supermen," Merlin answered, "Our meeting you was a complete coincidence."

"But she just turned into a werewolf!" Yoshi exclaimed.

"That doesn't make me evil," Rachel sighed, "Would you like it if I called you evil on the basis that you were a gargoyle?"

Yoshi shook his head.

"You intend to cause us no harm?" Fang Shui asked stepping forward nervously.

Rachel nodded.

"Who are these supermen you spoke of?" Merlin asked.

Fang Shui glanced back at Je Lu, who only sighed.

"We don't know who they, but they drove us from our home in Tibet with weapons that we have no means of defending ourselves against," Fang Shui answered, "And on top of this, they are as strong as a gargoyle."

"We believe them to be evil warriors," another monk spoke, "that's why we feared you to be agents of them, especially after your friend transformed into a wolf."

"Warriors?" Rachel asked, her tail slowly moving back and forth, "You think they're going to start a war?"

Merlin also began to look more interested.

"It is possible," Je Lu answered, "but we are only seeking to avenge the loss of our home and make the supermen pay. That is why we are on our current journey."

"Can you tell us exactly where your old home was?" Merlin asked.

"Are the two of you wanting to help?" Yoshi asked.

"As much as I feel we should," Merlin spoke, "Rachel and I are on very important business concerning a great prophesy in Britain. Have any of you heard the legends of King Arthur?"

"We have some copies of the story in Ishimura," Yoshi spoke up, "You are named after the king's advisor."

Merlin shook his head, "I AM the advisor of Arthur Pendragon. The prophesy concerns 'Britain's Finest Hour'. Arthur was awakened from his sleep on Avalon early, and we must find out when this will occur. Our one real link is a prediction that a war will start in the east and men will fall from the sky. If you say you were attacked by warriors, they may be the ones who start the war in the east, which means Rachel and I might provide you with some help, anyway."

"What about these men from the sky?" Je Lu asked.

"That's the real trick," Merlin sighed, "What we've found says little that could identify them. It could be aliens, these New Olympians that the Greeks found, gargoyles, or human paratroopers. I'm right now thinking that if we can figure out who is going to start the war in the east, then maybe we can find out who is going to 'fall' from the sky."

"Amazing," Fang Shui spoke.

"Have you eaten?" Rachel asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Fang Shui asked.

"Have you eaten?" Rachel asked, "Merlin and I have stored some food away in our vehicle, and I'm feeling hungry."

"We don't have enough to share between all of us," Merlin commented to her, "Just enough for you over the next three nights."

"We haven't eaten," Je Lu spoke, "We have mostly been watching you from a safe distance."

"We can hunt for our food, however, if there is not enough available," Yama spoke.

"Hunt?" Rachel asked, tail wagging, "I'm sorry, but I have a lot more energy in this form, and I tend to get hungry more easily in this form."

There was a pause as Rachel stood as tall as she could and sniffed the air.

"And there is a herd of elk not too far away," Rachel spoke.

"There is much that I would like to know," Merlin commented, "perhaps you could pause your journey to help us?"

Fang Shui glanced at Je Lu and after a few moments nodded.

"Yes," Fang Shui agreed, "I believe that both of our parties have their questions."

**Two Nights Later**

"I would like to thank you for providing your own help in your own way," Fang Shui spoke as he and the monks prepared to leave with Je Lu's clan and companions.

Rachel couldn't help but give an embarrassed smile as the monk shock her giant furry paw. One of the things that she was sure would always frustrate her about the fact that she was a werewolf was the fact that while she was in wolf form, most things were too small for her. The monk's hand was tiny in her paw. She had to be careful not to crush his hands.

"It is no problem," Rachel answered, "If Merlin and I can provide you with any help by finding out who these warriors are, we will."

"We'll also call the man who owns the tower where you are headed," Merlin added, "Xanatos should tell you what we've find out."

"Finding out who these guys are will be a big help to us," Je Lu answered, "And for doing that, we thank you."

"We will remind you that we won't be able to get a flight to the far east until we can get to California or Washington State," Merlin cautioned, "So it may take awhile."

"We will need to glide to New York, so waiting for you to travel will not be of great difficulty," Yama spoke.

With polite good-byes, Je Lu and his clan took off into the night from the cliff. Several were carrying a monk. Rachel and Merlin stood and watched until they had disappeared over the horizon.

"So, where do we go next, then?" Rachel asked, "Washington state should have an international airport in one of its cities, and it is the closest."

"If not, Portland, Oregon was large enough to support an international airport," Merlin nodded, "If that fails, we're going to be stuck with one of the major cities of California."

"Washington state and Oregon are closer," Rachel pointed out.

"We'll try Olympia, Washington, first," Merlin nodded, "No sense in going back and forth along the west coast of the United States."

"Do you think they can make it to New York without revealing themselves to others?" Rachel asked and then gestured to her furry body, "We will have a hard enough time hiding this, and we're only two people at the moment. There are a lot more of them."

"Once they start getting into the more heavily populated east, they should be fine," Merlin answered, "Gargoyles can hide wherever there is a city. And thanks to Coyote's magic which is apparently acting as a translator for them, the monks can make themselves understood to anyone they come across."

"Hopefully they make it to New York," Rachel sighed and then began to follow Merlin back to their campsite.

**The End**


	5. Truths Behind Prophecy

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place two weeks after "Infiltration".

Truths Behind Prophecy

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary 

**Illuminati Headquarters**

The Inner Council watched a small news program as it depicted the continued growing crisis in the Far East.

"The People's Republic of China appears to be involved in a singular crisis on both ends of its borders," the reporter said in a professional business voice, "It is currently involved in a Counter-Insurgency operation in Tibet, and now tensions between China and Taiwan have now risen to a near crisis level."

The screen then showed several small frigates, all sailing near what appeared to be Hong Kong in the background.

"After recent raids of three Chinese warships and the theft of their anti-aircraft weaponry and ammunition, the Chinese government has stepped up patrols over the waters separating mainland China and Tawain," the reporter spoke in the background, "Only the threat of intervention from the United States Navy prevented these ships from shelling the island of Tawain. The patrols have not ceased however, and the United States is reported to be sending one aircraft carrier and four destroyers to the region to act as a monitoring and peacekeeping force. How much they do to prevent what appears to be a full fledged collision course between Tawain and China remains yet to be seen."

One then turned the television off with a heavy sigh and set the remote down on top of the television and pushed the cart it was sitting on back against the wall.

"We can consider ourselves grateful that both the Communists on the mainland and the Taiwanese follow our orders," One grumbled, "They will bluster about who did what and who is truly at fault, but they will not resume their war. The problem in China is the insurgency."

"We still have not found any evidence as to who is behind it," Four pointed out, "And reports that we're getting out of the Chinese military is that they're being ambushed at every corner. And some of these raids are beginning to spread beyond the borders of Tibet."

"Perhaps we should ask Khan to join the efforts to investigate this insurgency?" Two asked, "I mean, we've had him and his supermen patrol the area before the insurgency began, and it is not like these insurgents don't know about us or them."

"No," One said firmly, "That will only cause more trouble. Khan may have been created there, but he does not look either Chinese or Tibetan."

"But these insurgents attacked us first," Three pointed out, "Shouldn't we do something to stop them? In our own way?"

"This whole thing is drawing too much media coverage to the area, which we do not entirely control," One sighed, "Doing so would risk our own exposure. We can not allow our organization to be revealed to the world. Our key has always been secrecy."

"I still do not like this," Five said, "It is becoming much too chaotic for me."

"I know," One sighed, "and the real problem is that we can only pray that the situation fixes itself."

**Tibet**

Khan sat silently as he looked over various field reports from his various units that he had running covert operations throughout Tibet and parts of China. He was pleased to see that the presence of more Chinese soldiers in the province was beginning to get many of the local Tibetan people upset, which gave him the hope of getting at least the younger people to follow him. He looked up from the reports when he saw his second in command enter.

"We've successfully installed the antiaircraft weaponry that we've stolen from the Chinese Navy," Khan's second reported, "We had to do a little work with the base itself to make sure they can not be seen by satellite photographs, but the work has been done."

"Excellent," Khan smiled, "What is the status of the army?"

"We've raised enough to fully garrison this fortress and maintain one brigade in the field," the Second answered, "Not enough to directly challenge China's army over all, but enough to controlTibet if the locals do not fight us."

"Most reports indicate that they are beginning to become frustrated with China's occupation," Khan smiled, "We might be able to gain their young people in with our regular army."

"Yes," the second nodded.

"We will continue to increase the number of supermen that serve us and will maintain harassment tactics," Khan continued, "Until we have the men to overwhelmingly surprise and drive the communists out, we can not do anything that would risk becoming involved in all out battles."

"Right, sir," the second agreed, "Do you have any new orders?"

"While we may not be at 'war' with China yet, we have to prepare," Khan commented.

"We are already building an army and stealing as many pieces of Chinese equipment as possible, including tanks, artillery, and others," the second answered, sounding slightly surprised.

"Yes," Khan nodded, "But they will either find this place or the Illuminati will tell them of it once the 'war' begins. And while our anti-aircraft guns should deal with any plane or basic missile, the Chinese do possess weapons that can't be stopped by the anti-aircraft guns we have."

"The Chinese wouldn't use Nuclear weapons on their own soil," the second said, "Plus, the current Nuclear powers now hate the weapon."

"The Chinese wouldn't," Khan nodded, "But the Illuminati would, and we know that they possess the launch codes to every nuclear power and could blame the explosion on a terrorist organization that they don't have control over."

"Where are we going to send their missiles then?" the second asked.

"No where," Khan answered with a smile, "We have the Illuminati's list of various spells here that go along with their dealings in the occult. All we need to do is cast the spell that will turn every Nuclear weapon in China into merely a large telephone pole."

**Elsewhere**

Rachel sighed as she felt her brown furred feet sink into the snow that she and Merlin were walking through. Tibet was far colder then anything she had expected. So cold that she felt warmer in her werewolf form. She sighed knowing that Merlin could just use his magic to keep himself warm, but then her fur kept her warm too. Then, as they were walking the two came to an area along the mountain slope that looked like it had been flattened out and the snow on it was packed down slightly.

"What the…?" Rachel started.

"It's a road," Merlin finished for her.

"What's a road doing in the middle of Tibet on a mountain slope that would not safely fit a motorcycle let alone a car?" Rachel asked.

"It was probably built by the 'supermen' that Je Lu's clan mentioned," Merlin commented, "The official Chinese roads are in the valleys or at least in more stable areas."

Rachel looked at the road and noticed that it took a path that went up hill.

"Where do you suppose it goes?" Rachel asked.

"Hopefully to their base," Merlin answered, "Then we can see if these 'supermen' are the source of the war to the 'East'."

"What do we do if we run into any?" Rachel asked, "I can't fight them all with risking leaving a claw or bite mark, and the last thing the world needs is 'werewolf supermen', and you can't beat all of them with your magic at one time."

"Well, we're not here to fight them all, remember?" Merlin answered, "Just to see if they have anything to do with the prophecy."

"I trust you can hide us then?" Rachel asked.

"For as long as possible," Merlin nodded, "Let's go."

The two began walking up the road, unaware that they were being tracked.

**Illuminati Headquarters**

A man in what looked like a military uniform, not with the insignia of any known country but the insignia of the Illuminati society, slowly looked at a satellite image of a man wearing a heavy coat and pants and a female werewolf walking through deep snow.

"Harry, contact one of the Council members," the man yelled to a partner, "Our observation satellite has picked something up."

The other man, Harry, was quickly up and out of the room. He returned a few minutes later with Five with him. The Council member seemed quite interested in what the man had to report.

"Now, Pat, what is it that you have to explain?" Five demanded.

"One of our satellites just finished its routine sweep over the Tibetan area," Pat reported, "I'm sure you'll find the results interesting."

"What is it?!" Five demanded insistently, "Have you found the headquarters of these insurgents?"

"No," Pat answered, "But it has found two people of interest to the Council."

Five stood patiently waiting. Pat meanwhile pressed a few buttons to bring back the satellite images he was looking at earlier. Once they came up, Five looked at both of them very closely.

"That's…?" Five asked in surprise.

"Merlin Ambrosius has apparently created a road leading to our Tibetan facility," Pat answered, "He's walking into our hands."

"Only if Khan knows he's coming!" Five answered and ran out.

**Tibet**

"Use the Illuminati's spells?" the second in command asked as Khan lead him toward the main computer information center, "Wouldn't we need a sorcerer for that?"

"What makes you think we, ourselves, can not do this?" Khan asked back.

"I have studied some of what the Illuminati has printed down in their electronic files, as you ordered me to," the second reported, "Among human and gargoyle sorcerers there must be a certain 'talent' toward magic. And the third race is born with their magic. After this I checked the Illuminati's notes from the original creation process."

"We all know that," Khan snapped, "Scientific enhancement of embryonic cells and rapid growth."

"Yes," the second nodded, "But the Illuminati never implanted any fey DNA or magical talent in any of us, and it appears that they did not keep any sort of thing along those lines here."

"Meaning we can't just create a superman with magic talent or fey DNA," Khan sighed, "So what can we do then? There is no scientific way to turn Uranium or Plutonium into something harmless. Even the atoms that come out of a fission reaction, even if they aren't normally radioactive, are radioactive as a result of the larger atom being split."

"That is why we will need a sorcerer," the second pointed out, "but most of those who exist in the Illuminati's files either practice dark magic, are not strong enough, or are employees of the Illuminati. In fact the who only two light magic practitioners who are strong enough to what you ask are a female gargoyle named Demona and fey halfling, known as Merlin."

"Demona has the talent, but is a gargoyle with a history of hating humanity," Khan commented, "And while Merlin is not entirely in the Illuminati's camp, I doubt he would want to help us either."

"There is capturing him," the second commented.

"I suppose we'll have to," Khan answered, "Where is Merlin's present whereabouts?"

At that moment a lower ranking superman ran into the room and interrupted Khan's conversation with his second in command.

"Sir, Five is on the communications screen," the superman reported, "He says he needs to speak with you!"

"Let's see what the Council wants," Khan sighed, "We'll finish this discussion later."

"Of course, sir," his second answered.

The two then began to follow the man that had reported Five's contacting the base. They arrived in the communications to find Five's image waiting patiently on screen.

"Hello, Master Five," Khan greeted, "Has the Council established a new scientific team to lead this facility?"

"No progress has been made on that front," Five sighed, "But there has been a development that does require the work of your supermen."

"We will be sent after these insurgents then?" Khan asked.

"The Council wishes that you stay out of that situation," Five answered, "But a different enemy of the Illuminati has made an appearance in your area. Heading directly toward the base, actually. We want him and his companion dead."

"And who might our target be?" Khan asked.

"A human sorcerer named Merlin and female werewolf known as Rachel Winters," Five answered.

"My men have anti-magic armor, but we do not have silver," Khan reported, "This sorcerer can be easily dealt with, but we'll have to simply capture the were."

"Very well then," Five answered, "So long as they are dealt with."

"For the Illuminati," Khan swore as the screen went black, indicating that Five had terminated the connection.

Khan then turned and smiled to his second, "We are in great luck. We don't have to look for Merlin. Merlin is coming to us! Get two squads of infantry ready and tell them to get their anti-magic armor and tranquilizer weapons ready. I want them both in custody within the next half an hour!"

"Of course, sir," the second in command saluted.

**Outside**

Rachel and Merlin slowly continued on their way up the road, which continued to go up hill and remained very narrow and barely safe for any vehicle.

"I'm beginning to wonder how these supermen could have given China so much trouble," Rachel grumbled, "They couldn't get any large truck or long vehicle up here, as they would either be too wide or too long when the road turns."

"Most of that stuff is probably elsewhere," Merlin answered, "We just need to reach the summit of this…"

"Get down!" Rachel screamed and tackled him to the ground.

"Rachel, what's…?" Merlin questioned.

Merlin's question was broken by what sounded like a gun shot. He heard Rachel give off a pained grunt as the two of them landed in the snow. He then watched as she pulled a dart out of her thigh.

"What the…?" Rachel asked weakly as she wobbled and then fell over onto her back beside Merlin, out cold.

"Rachel!" Merlin gasped and turned to face four men wearing futuristic looking armor and all pointed tranquilizer weapons at him.

"I wouldn't move if I were you, sorcerer," the first man threatened.

Merlin answered by firing an lightning spell at two of the attackers, but they only stumbled back a few steps and neither came close enough to falling off the edge of the road. The other two then fired their own tranquilizer weapons before Merlin had a chance to raise any sort of shield, and knocked him out cold.

"This is squad one," the man reported into a radio once Merlin fell back, unconscious, "We've captured both the wizard and the wolf. We're on our way back."

"Excellent," Khan's voice answered on the other line.

**Later**

Merlin awoke to find himself strapped into a large experimentation table. He tried a few energy blasts, but found that he couldn't break the straps that held him down with his magic.

"I'm afraid you can't escape my friend," an aristocratic voice spoke from behind his head.

Merlin turned his head to see a man dressed in what appeared to be a military uniform with two men in scientific/doctor's smocks standing behind him. He also noticed that he was in a rather extensive laboratory.

"Who are you?" Merlin demanded, "Where am I?"

"My friend welcome to my headquarters," the man answered, "I am Khan Noonien Singh."

"You don't look oriental to me," Merlin commented in a defiant tone, "And as far as I know, the Chinese Army doesn't employ foreigners inside its army, so I can only assume you're an Illuminatus."

"You would be wrong in that regard," Khan smiled, "In fact the Illuminati and I will be at odds with each other in near future."

"And why would that be?" Merlin questioned, thinking this man was trying to play a game with him.

Khan only smiled again, "Let's say that we each have different ideas as to who should be running the world."

"And what do you want me for?" Merlin demanded.

"I need you to provide me with a blood sample," Khan answered simply, "Nothing more. Nothing less."

"What?" Merlin asked in surprise.

"We need a sample of your blood," Khan answered, "We could ask for 'other' samples, but given your reputation, I doubt you'd be willing to do 'that' for us."

Merlin began to get some serious vibes off of Khan that he wasn't playing games and that he was completely serious.

"The world isn't going to like you trying to take over it either," Merlin pointed out.

"That will be quite obvious," Khan smiled, "The Illuminati controls their governments and will give whatever information they want. When the time comes, I, however, know that their propaganda can be countered."

"You want to start a war?" Merlin gasped, "With the Illuminati?"

"Not only that, when the war starts I intend to expose them to the world," Khan nearly laughed, "And that will be my key to victory. The Illuminati are actually a very small minority within the world's population. They have many members and followers, but they are still a minority, including within the populations of the countries that provide them with the greatest strength."

The two doctors approached the table that Merlin was on and began to prep one arm to take a hypodermic needle.

"With the Illuminati exposed as a secret society that has controlled every world population since the Middle Ages in Europe, people will lose confidence in their governments," Khan continued, "Every political leader will fall out of office, from the American President to possibly even the British Monarch and her family, and anarchy will reign. Which will leave me to pick up the pieces."

"Why are you telling me this?" Merlin demanded.

"It's not like I intend to let you leave," Khan answered, "You would likely side with the Illuminati against me, despite the differences you have with them."

Merlin cringed as one of the hypodermic needles pierced his skin.

"You'll never get away with this!" Merlin vowed, with little else that he could think off.

"I think I will," Khan answered, "Make sure he's out before you take him off the table."

"Yes, sir," the two doctors said with a salute as Khan left.

The last thing Merlin remembered was the other doctor sticking another needle in his arm.

**Later**

"Ungh, where am I?" Merlin grumbled as he came to consciousness again.

"Some kind of prison," came Rachel's voice, "They mean to hold us hear indefinitely."

Merlin looked up to see Rachel standing in her human form in a barred cell across from a similar cell in front of him.

"These bars are superheated," Rachel grumbled, "I can't get out."

Merlin threw a lightning spell at the bars to the cell that he was in. The magic in his spell simply bounced off of the bar and hit him, throwing him against the far wall. He only heard laughter as he began to recover from his own attack.

"Do you honestly think that you would be placed here with us having no knowledge of your abilities?" a guard asked as he came into view, "The bars to her cell are heated to the point where they're red hot. An average human could break them with their own hands at this point, if they could withstand the heat. We do this because we don't have the silver that she is vulnerable to. Your bars have a special technological-magical force field that prevents you from using your magic on them."

"But you people have no talent for magic!" Merlin spoke, "How could you have combined magic with technology?"

"We didn't," the guard smiled, "The Illuminati did. Hope you enjoy your stay."

The guard then turned and left, actually going into another room.

"Do they have any cameras in here?" Merlin asked in a quiet tone.

"No," Rachel shook her head, "But that guard checks in every few minutes, just make sure no one is trying to escape, and he is armed with tranquilizer weapons."

"Can you shift forms?" Merlin asked again.

Rachel nodded, "It won't do me any good though. My hands will have such serious burns that by they time they've healed, the guard would notice I'm out and would shoot me with the tranquilizer gun before I could get you out."

"It could, if I can remove the heat from the bars to your cell," Merlin commented and approached the bars to his cell.

Merlin tentatively stuck out his hand between two bars, and found that none of them repelled him instantly. He then began chanting in Latin.

"Metal bars heated hot,

Lose your temperature, all your heat, for naught."

A weak stream of green energy left Merlin's hands and went across the way between the row of cells that Merlin was in and the row that Rachel was in. Rachel watched as the bars of the cell she was in suddenly turn to ice, but then noticed that the bars in Merlin's cell activated and threw him against far wall again. She sighed as began to retake her wolf form. Unfortunately, her howl, once her tail had fully grown out, brought the guard back in.

"What is going on here?!" the guard demanded.

"Our escape!" Rachel growled as she lunged through the bars that Merlin had cooled.

The guard turned to face the snarling werewolf, and readied a tranquilizer gun to put her down for a couple of hours. Rachel simply rose up onto her hind legs and swatted the gun away as if it were a fly. She then grabbed the man by his armor.

"How were you able to get out so quickly?" the guard stammered.

"The bars weren't made of silver," Rachel answered, "Do you think that something that is simply hot could stop me?"

The superman mumbled something that Rachel didn't understand, and she only threw him down the hallway. He hit the far wall hard and slumped to the ground unconscious. Rachel then turned to find Merlin waiting just behind the bars of his cell. She quickly grabbed two of the bars.

"I don't know how long, he'll be out," Rachel commented, "So we're going to go now."

"Fine with me," Merlin answered as Rachel physically ripped the bars out of the wall.

Rachel then turned to head out while Merlin followed her. She didn't hear the sound of any footsteps coming down the hallway.

"We must get to their laboratory," Merlin said, "They took a blood sample from me. We need to make sure they can't use it."

"What about your research?" Rachel asked.

"I believe I've been told everything we need to know," Merlin answered, "We just need to get my blood sample back."

"Were you conscious when they took you there?" Rachel asked, "Because I was out cold when I was dumped in there, and you were out too when they brought you in."

"True, but my blood is a part of me," Merlin explained, "I can at least cast a homing spell that will lead us straight to it."

The two of them stopped in a hallway while Merlin quickly tried to cast his spell. Rachel kept her ears perked to try and catch any sound of approaching supermen. After a few seconds she heard Merlin scream with frustration. She quickly turned her head to see what was up with him.

"What is it?" Rachel asked.

"Iron, the entire complex is laced with Iron!" Merlin exclaimed, "My spell can't locate us let alone my blood."

"Of course it can't," Khan's voice spoke over an intercom, "This building was created by the Illuminati. They know about magic and know that the fey would attack them if they could find them. They laced this building with Iron so that neither Titania and Oberon, or the deceased Madoc and Maeve could attack this place without lowering themselves to equal footing with Illuminati defenders. You, as a fey halfling, are limited by the same laws, Merlin."

"Who is that?" Rachel growled, looking around for the cameras.

"I am Khan, the commander of this post, werewolf," Khan's voice answered, "And don't bother looking for the cameras. They are invisible to all, even myself. Oh, and if you wan to get out of here, alive, you might want to pick a direction and go."

Almost at that exact moment, several men armed with tranquilizer guns appeared in both hallways. Each group began firing the instant they had Merlin and Rachel in sight. Only a quickly generated force field by Merlin prevented them from being knocked out.

"I think it's time for us to go, and to forget about your blood sample," Rachel spoke to him.

Merlin's force field dropped as both groups attacked at once for hand to hand combat. Merlin dealt with the group attacking him rather quickly with a few lightning spells, while Rachel struggled, as she was not entirely used to fighting in any manner, and didn't want to even risk clawing one of the attackers. She managed to knock one out with a lucky punch, but the rest had managed to tackle her and hold her down. Only another lightning spell kept her from being knocked out by the lead superman. A short while later, Merlin was able to free Rachel from their grip.

"I think you're right," Merlin sighed, "now hopefully, we can figure a way out of here."

**Main Control Room**

"Make sure that they are driven OUT of the facility," Khan ordered to his second in command.

"Why not kill them?" the second asked, "Merlin, at least, will fight us later."

"Merlin's magic is already too powerful for us to defeat him to the point to kill him and there isn't enough pure Iron here to kill him," Khan answered, "We have to let him escape with the werewolf. Make sure our teams drive them out of the facility. Once they're out, they can not bother us any more. My goals have been accomplished."

"What of the Illuminati?" the second asked, "They've already sent agents to either execute or pick up Merlin and the werewolf?"

"We will tell them that their life signs appeared to have ceased when they were tranquilized," Khan answered, "We will claim that we thought them dead and buried them in an unmarked grave to make sure know one knows it is them."

"The Illuminati could punish you," the second reminded him.

"They didn't program us to know magic or even want to study its laws," Khan answered, "How should they expect us to fully grasp the supernatural?"

"Of course, sir," the second answered.

Merlin and Rachel continued moving as fast as they could to try and get through the hallways that made up the Illuminati complex. As they went more supermen would appear and try to jump them. Merlin was easily able to deal with most of them, and Rachel managed to knock one or two out, but her blows were mostly the result of getting lucky. She didn't want to risk biting or clawing anyone and then as principle, held back much of the time in an attempt to keep from accidentally creating more werewolves. Despite all this, it appeared that the supermen had a mission other then killing them.

"They're driving us," Rachel muttered as she swung a closed fist at a superman who leaped at her.

"Great," Merlin grumbled back, "And with the Iron in the walls, I can't determine where we are or where they're driving us."

Merlin then erected a series of force fields as more supermen came up behind them, armed with tranquilizer guns. He and Rachel then turned and ran as the tranquilizer rounds hit force field, disintegrating on impact. They then kept running down the hallway that there were no supermen in.

"We're gonna die, I just know it," Rachel grumbled as she ran.

"No one's going to die," Merlin answered, "I hope."

The two then rounded a corner and kept running when a superman jumped out in front of their path. The movement was so sudden that Rachel actually ran into him, sending both tumbling along the floor. Merlin quickly sent a lightning spell down the hallway that the man had appeared out of to make sure that there was no one behind him. Rachel ended up on top of the crook and then made sure that he hadn't been scratched at all. Seeing that he wasn't, Rachel then threw hem back toward where she and Merlin had come from.

Merlin meanwhile moved to look around. Their only option was to go ahead and run through a large metal door.

"Let's see what's behind door number one," Merlin commented as he approached the door.

To his surprise as he opened it, the door led to the outside. Both he and Rachel slowly went outside trying to see if they could find out if it was real. Once both were far enough away from the door that neither could make a quick dash back in, the door slammed shut behind them.

"They drove us outside?" Rachel asked.

"It would appear so," Merlin answered.

"Did you find out everything you needed to know?" Rachel asked.

Merlin slowly nodded, "They're lead by a man named Khan and if future events go as he has planned, he will start a great war here that will eventually plunge the entire world into chaos. Possibly threatening the entire world."

"So this Khan is the one that the prophesy predicts?" Rachel asked.

"Apparently," Merlin answered.

**Illuminati Headquarters**

One sat quietly staring at an old text that the Illuminati had come across in the seventeen hundreds and kept hidden from the rest of the world. One was the leader of the Illuminati Council, which lead the Illuminati for the Mage. It had been their job to control the world for him, and the prophecy in the book frightened him. He had to find a way to prevent it. As he stood up he left the book open to the page that held the prophesy.

"A secret organization rules the globe,

But a conqueror from the east shall arise,

Who will destroy those with 'illuminated' minds."

**The End…**


	6. Even in the Darkest Night…

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place one week after "Confusing Choices" in the Gargoyles saga and "Truths Behind Prophecy" in the Khan saga.

Even in the Darkest Night…

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary 

**Tibet**

Khan stood quietly as several of his followers, who had taken over the roles that the Illuminati scientists had once used his base fore began to deactivate the equipment to one of the cloning tanks. His plans were still going according to his schedule, and that pleased him. The recruitment of local people into an auxiliary force was moving along well, and the continued production of new supermen was continuing on at a good rate. Insuring that they had plenty of supplies was becoming slightly more difficult, as most Chinese military patrols were now under much heavier guard then before, but this wasn't enough to deter Khan from issuing new commands to his subordinates.

He was not, however, at the awakening of a new superman. This new clone was different from the others. Khan was also sure that this clone would be able to help him deal with things that were scientifically impossible to do, which would be a necessity in the coming battles.

"Are you ready?" Khan asked one of his nearby followers.

"Yes," the follower answered, "We are ready to shut down the chamber and allow the clone to live on its own."

"And you followed my instructions to the letter?" Khan asked.

"Of course, sir, although you will need to run tests to see if the clone possesses the original's full potential," the superman scientist answered.

"I need to test the clone to see if everything worked?" Khan questioned in a growling voice, "Shouldn't everything work now?"

"In theory yes, but you see sir, magical ability is not something that science can easily duplicate," the superman scientist answered, "It exists in nature, as the Illuminati's files have shown, but there is no evidence that it exists in technology."

"But we aren't cloning a machine," Khan pointed out.

"But a clone is not created naturally," the scientist retorted, "It is a mechanical process that manipulates nature. In doing so, it may not work as you foresee it, sir."

Khan was silent but looked on the scientist with an obvious look of mistrust and anger.

"There is also the genetic alterations you ordered made with the clone," the scientist continued, "Even if the cloning of the 'magic' was successful, we have no way of knowing whether or not the alterations that you ordered didn't do anything to alter the clone's ability to use that magic. This is the first time that anyone with magical ability has been cloned, and on top of that, it's not a simple cloning either. We've had to do major genetic alterations. Essentially we do not know what will happen."

"Be grateful that you are not an Illuminati scientist," Khan growled, "They would have killed you without giving you a chance. I am willing to wait for proof. If you have succeeded, you will live. If this clone fails, you die."

The scientist gulped and then turned to two other supermen standing closer to the chamber.

"Open the chamber!" the scientist ordered.

The chamber hissed as steam was let out into the lab's atmosphere and the chamber's door entered. While the steam was still thick and obscuring the view of the clone inside, one superman approached the chamber had held a bathrobe out to the clone in the chamber. A hand quickly reached out and grabbed the robe. Then as the steam dissipated, a woman with white hair wearing the bathrobe walked out of the chamber.

"Thank you for providing me with a robe," the female clone spoke, "Although I'm to assume I will be given more appropriate attire?"

"Of course, we aren't heathens," Khan answered with a smile, "May I ask you your name?"

"Given the genetic material that I was created from, I believe I will take the name Marilyn," the female clone answered, "And I trust I am not the only female in this facility."

"Approximately half of my forces are female," Khan answered, "You will have plenty of company."

"Your forces?" Marilyn asked.

"Yes, I am Khan Noonien Singh, leader of supermen," Khan answered, "But as every man needs a companion, so does every king."

"So I am to be your concubine?" Marilyn questioned, seeming to be very confrontational.

"No, I fear you misunderstand me," Khan answered, "You are to rule by my side. Whether or not you come to my bed or I go to yours will depend on whether or not we develop feelings of a romantic nature toward one another."

"So we are to be partners?" Marilyn asked.

Khan nodded.

"Excellent," Marilyn answered, "With your reason and my power, there is nothing that will stop us!"

Khan smiled, "You say you have power, would you mind giving us a small demonstration?"

"You want to see if their technology cloned the magic of the original into me?" Marilyn asked.

Khan nodded again.

"Procure for me some proper attire and bring me a list of you most powerful enemies," Marilyn answered, "and I will give you a proper field test."

**Illuminati Council Headquarters, Unknown Location**

"Things in Tibet are continuing to become more and more serious," One commented, "Reports have reached my desk that attacks are now occurring in areas outside Tibet, and the number of Chinese soldiers dying in this campaign is growing larger."

"Yes," Five nodded, "I'm afraid, sir, that we might have to have Khan take some form of direct action against these insurgents. Because if something is not done to stop them soon, the Chinese are considering an all out invasion of the province."

"Tibet is already a part of China!" Two gasped.

"Yes, but considering the level of the insurgency in the province, the Chinese have no idea about who is loyal and who isn't," Five answered, "and they are getting to the point where they will do anything to try and stop this insurgency."

"Khan is to remain in defensive positions around our Tibet facility," One said firmly, "This whole thing began with an attack on that facility. If we send Khan out after them, they could attack the facility again, and possibly destroy it."

"Then what shall we do?" Three asked, "They're ambushing patrols and stealing weapons and equipment. If we let them continue to have free reign over the region, we might as well surrenderChina and control the rest of the world."

"Things are not that serious," One answered, "I believe sending a lone agent into Tibet to observe the area will provide us with greater information."

"What do we do about the supposed reports we've gotten from New York and London?" Four asked, "The reports that it is Khan who is behind the attacks?"

"Ignore those pointless accusations," One dismissed the issue, "They are nothing but the delusions of other enemies of the Society."

"Are you sure?" Four asked, "The Manhattan clan has never attacked any Illuminati facility and neither has the London clan. In fact, we were the cause of all of their battles with us."

"That's because we tried preemptive strikes against them," Two pointed out, "Unfortunately for us, they've proven to be quite skilled warriors."

"I'm just very cautious," Four answered, "Even if it's a false accusation that they're making, I think we should look into it. I find it hard to believe that the Manhattan and London clans could come up with so similar stories and just be making them up."

"You haven't heard of the telephone?" Three asked.

"We monitor all international phone calls," Four answered, "We would have known from the outset what they were doing."

"We will send an agent to Tibet to observe the situation," One said firmly, "If he sees anything that might indicate that Khan is involved, we will investigate to make sure he is loyal. Until that time, we will not do anything, and will treat him like the loyal servant that he is."

The other Illuminati Council members then nodded, some a little more reluctantly then others.

**Tibet**

Marilyn walked calmly and deliberately into the main command room, wearing a black commando uniform and directly approached Khan who was standing near a large computer panel.

"Now, do you have a list of enemies that a major concern?" Marilyn asked in a somewhat demanding voice.

Khan then typed a series of buttons on the panel which illuminated a list of names and photographs on a screen in front of them.

"Our primary enemy is the Illuminati Society, but the plan for their destruction is already in affect," Khan began, "You are not to directly attack them."

"I don't see them on this list," Marilyn commented.

"That is because most of those that we will be fighting are also enemies of the Illuminati to some extent," Khan explained, "And since the Illuminati does not yet know we are their enemies, we have complete access to their files. This is a list of people whom the Illuminati have declared as enemies."

"Nearly all of them are gargoyles," Marilyn commented as she looked at the photographs.

"Yes," Khan nodded, "By listening in on their own network, we've found that they are quite paranoid about these gargoyles. A fact which will be useful for us."

"Useful?" Marilyn asked.

"Yes," Khan answered, "Gargoyles are by nature defensive creatures. They won't attack us unless we've already done something to them. When the time comes to bring the rebellion into the open, we must make the Illuminati think that we are gargoyles. And well placed propaganda will do that easily."

Marilyn nodded as she scrolled down the list of names until she came to the name of one individual gargoyle.

"You want to test my abilities, Khan?" Marilyn asked.

"Yes," Khan answered slowly.

"She will be the test then," Marilyn answered with a sinister smile.

Khan looked up at the image of a blue female gargoyle gliding away from some cathedral in New York. The gargoyle in the image wore a golden tiara, a halter top, and a loin cloth, held on by a belt. He then read the information that the Illuminati had collected on the gargoyle.

"You plan to challenge Demona?" Khan asked.

"Yes," Marilyn answered, "The perfect test of my power, wouldn't you think?"

"She rivals the Mage in terms of power, and according to Illuminati files, it took three fey and a clan of gargoyles, all armed with iron weapons to defeat him," Khan answered, "And there is believed to be at least one fatality as a result of that battle."

"All the more reason to use her as the test," Marilyn answered, "If she were to oppose us later, what makes you think she shouldn't be targeted now?"

"I would prefer not to have to deal with her until it is absolutely necessary," Khan answered, "Preferably after the destruction of the Illuminati."

"And suppose she strikes us first?" Marilyn questioned, "Suppose the Illuminati discover your operations and decide to unleash her on you?"

"That isn't likely," Khan answered.

"Maybe, but why take the chance," Marilyn answered, "If she is also an enemy of the Illuminati and I destroy her, they will not take me as an enemy of them. So it wouldn't implicate you in the slightest."

"True, but they may decide you need to be recruited in order to try and control you," Khan answered, "Which is something I can not allow."

"They will not recruit me, and Demona will be the test," Marilyn answered firmly as she snapped her fingers, teleporting a small hover cam to her from elsewhere in the base, "You can follow my progress as proof of my power."

"Wait!" Khan urged in vain, as Marilyn teleported away.

"She sounds quite ambitious, sir," Khan's second commented.

"An admirable quality," Khan answered with a smile, "So long as she remains loyal."

"What do you wish to be done, sir?" Khan's second asked.

"Activate the hover cam she took," Khan ordered, "We will watch her battle with Demona, and pray that she wins or at least survives."

**Detriot, Michigan, USA**

The night seemed fairly quiet as dusk descended on the Michigan city. Demona however, gave a somewhat frustrated sigh as she shook the last bits of stone from her wings. The Chinese clan was on its way back to Tibet to confront Khan and his supermen, and she and Wedrington had volunteered to help. However, the immortal female was incredibly frustrated by the fact that the Chinese clan would not allow her to use her magic to speed up their journey.

"At this rate Khan will have conquered China by the time we arrive," Demona grumbled, her frustration obvious.

"Je Lu's clan has a distrust of magic," Wedrington reminded her, "Not they necessarily think it is evil, but they just don't trust it all that much. I can't really say I trust magic all that much either."

"But you agreed that I could get us there quicker," Demona answered, "Why would you mistrust magic?"

"I trust you," Wedrington answered, "but if it was anyone else I would probably have the same concerns as Je Lu and his clan. Magic and sorcery took away my humanity. I would think I have good reason to distrust it."

"But why would you trust me and not magic?" Demona asked in a questioning tone.

"Because I've found you to be different," Wedrington answered, "At least different from the sorceress that changed me. There is goodness in you, although you've buried underneath some rather dark things."

"Then why not tell them that," Demona said firmly, indicating to Je Lu and the others.

"Because they don't know you as well as I do," Wedrington answered, "They know you as an ally who knows magic who can help them. But it is still something that they may not be prone trust being used on them. There is nothing wrong in not forcing something on others in many cases. The only thing that we lose by traveling this way is time."

"And if Khan conquers China before we get there?" Demona questioned.

"If you are concerned about that, that would presume that you care about the welfare of the Chinese people," Wedrington answered, "Am I to understand that you still at least distrust humanity?"

Demona didn't know how to answer that. Wedrington had just taken her own argument and used it against her.

"I was more concerned that he might become too difficult to beat without risking the lives of the Chinese Clan," Demona answered after a few moments, but knew for certain that while she wouldn't admit it, Wedrington had an effect on her in more ways then one.

Wedrington only sighed, "Come on, we should get some breakfast."

The two moved to the center of the roof they had perched on for the day and joined Je Lu and his clan in eating from a stash of food that they had packed prior to leaving Castle Wyvern. Halfway through their meal they heard a series of gunshots and screams coming from a nearby ally.

"What was that?" Je Lu asked, somewhat startled by the noise.

"It's probably just some human miscreant causing trouble," Demona answered, "It is of no concern."

"Are you sure?" Shi La asked, "Because the person who is screaming sounds terrified."

"It is not my concern," Demona answered.

"Maybe so," one of the Chinese males answered, "But I can not sit around and listen to those screams. I'm going to find out what is going on."

"Sun Tao, wait, I'll go with you," Je Lu spoke up, "Make sure you're not alone. It might be some superman or something."

"You shouldn't…" Demona stood up as if to argue.

"Why?" Sun Tao asked questioningly, "Those are gun shots. Someone could be hurt."

"Someone who is just as likely to hurt a gargoyle as help one," Demona answered.

"That quality is in everything," Je Lu answered, "That is yin and yang, if you use that to back a philosophy if isolation, then you have not accepted the reality of things."

"But…" Demona tried to argue.

"Please help them," Shi La spoke, "I agree that this might be dangerous, and you must surely know the territory better then we do. But we can not stand by and let some innocent get hurt, regardless of whether or not they like gargoyles."

"Fine," Demona grumbled.

Demona, Sun Tao, and Je Lu then approached the edge of the roof that was over the ally where the screams had come from. They found in the alley two people ducked down behind a dumpster. One was a teenaged male and the other was a teenaged female. Walking slowly down the middle of the alley was a middle aged man with a revolver in his hand.

"You punks have trespassed on my turf for the last time!" the man growled in a loud voice.

Neither teen said anything, but the male gripped the female tighter, as if he needed her for strength. The man raised his gun and fired at the dumpster. Almost in an instant, Demona had raised a shield the deflected the bullet away while Je Lu and Sun Tao dove at the gunman. The man screamed bloody murder and managed one wild shot, which flew harmlessly between Je Lu and Sun Tao, who knocked the man to the ground and knocked him unconscious soon after. Demona landed in the alley shortly thereafter.

"You two alright?" Demona asked Je Lu and Sun Tao.

"We are fine," Je Lu answered, "Should we check on the victims of this man's crime?"

Demona blinked and then turned back to the dumpster to see that the teenaged girl was standing, with her male partner leaning on her heavily.

"Gargoyles," the girl said sounding amazed.

"There are gargoyles?" the teenaged boy looked up suddenly, "I thought the news said they lived in New York?"

"Well, there are three of them here," the girl answered.

"So cool," the boy replied, "What do they look like?"

"Who are you?" Demona asked, interrupting their conversation.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I am Laura Wellington," the girl answered, "This is my brother Ron. Thank you for saving us."

Demona blinked. The last thing she expected was a 'thank you'. She only spoke in the hopes of getting them to go away.

"Can he see?" Sun Tao asked as he approached.

"No," Laura sighed, "Ron has been blind for as long as I can remember. It was a birth defect, I think."

"Why don't you fear us?" Demona questioned.

Laura stared back with a bit of fear in her eyes, "Should I have reason to?"

"No," Je Lu cut in, "Demona has had to deal with some rather evil people in her past."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Laura spoke to her.

"You weren't at fault," Demona sighed, not knowing what to make of the situation, "Do you have a home around here, somewhere?"

"Not really," Laura answered, "We sleep where we can."

"Does any one help you?" Sun Tao asked.

"Occasionally someone gives us a dollar or two," Laura answered, "We get buy. We're just on our way to the shelter that we commonly stay at."

"I hope things turn around for you," Demona answered, "You'd best run along though."

"Thanks again," Laura answered while beginning to help Ron get out of the alley.

"What should we do with him?" Je Lu asked in reference to the unconscious gunman.

"Leave him," Demona answers, "Those two will be long gone by the time he wakes up and even if the police arrest him, he'd be on freed again in a day."

Je Lu and Sun Tao sighed and began to scale back up the side of the wall.

"See, not all humans are threatening toward gargoyles," Je Lu then commented, "Those two teens seemed to be very friendly."

"Maybe," Demona answered, "But it has been my experience not to trust humans. Especially since most that I know who would probably defend gargoyle kind have actually become gargoyles."

"There are always more besides Wedrington and Elisa," Je Lu commented, "But in order to find them, you must be willing to look. Always keep that in mind."

"I probably should," Demona decided.

Yama and Yoshi, and group of Chinese gargoyles who had taken an interest in the short fight that had gone on, helped them back onto the rooftop.

"Everyone is ready to go, if you are ready to continue the journey toward Tibet," Yama spoke.

"You're going to Tibet?" a voice suddenly asked from nowhere, "Maybe I should have just waited for you to arrive then."

The entire group then looked up to see a woman in her twenties with long snow white hair, dressed in black commando gear, just floating above them.

"Superman!" Je Lu growled in an accusing voice.

"Superwoman, actually, but my point is not to argue on gender," the woman answered.

"Who are you?" Yoshi questioned.

"My name is Marilyn," Marilyn answered, "and I'm afraid you all are interfering with a test of my power."

"Your power?" Demona asked questioningly, looking relatively angry.

Marilyn only smiled and held out one hand. In it a small ball of emerald energy formed and then spread out in rapid succession, blinding all of the gargoyles. When Demona opened her eyes again, she found that she was the only gargoyle still conscious.

"What have you done to them?" Demona demanded, eyes glowing.

"If you worry about them, you needn't," Marilyn answered, "They're only asleep. And they will remain so until dawn, when they return to stone sleep for the day."

"Who are you, sorceress?" Demona growled.

"I told you, Marilyn," Marilyn answered, and conjured up a simple lightning spell and threw it at Demona, "Now, fight me."

The spell very nearly threw Demona off of the roof, but even still, it still gave her serious pain. This sorceress was quite powerful, and probably well skilled. Demona immediately took to the air, hoping to use her wings to keep the battle away from the other gargoyles who were unconscious and prepared for a counter strike of her own.

Demona silently chanted in Latin as she used her own magic to literally rip and through various bricks and other pieces of the surrounding buildings at Marilyn. The sorceress only created an energy shield that Demona's improvised projectiles simply bounced off.

"You're going to have to do better then that," Marilyn answered as she snapped her fingers and made a heavy chain appear and wrap itself around Demona, sending her crashing towards the ground below.

Demona gave a cry of pain as she hit the ground, and hit it hard. She landed on her back, and almost immediately she could tell that one of the bones in her wings was broken. She couldn't glide until tomorrow night, she had to wait for another day in stone sleep.

"And I was told you were supposed to be powerful," Marilyn taunted as she floated down to face Demona more closely, "But this was remarkably easy."

Using all the strength she had, Demona grabbed the chains that bound her and pulled them apart until they broke. She then slung the chains as a whip, landing a powerful blow across Marilyn's face and drawing blood. Demona then lunged forward and pushed Marilyn back into the side of the building, wrapping the chain around her neck.

"Never underestimate your opponents," Demona growled, "They tend to be stronger then they look."

Demona then took a closer look at her attacker. In doing so she had the strangest feeling that she had seen the woman's face before, but yet different. She couldn't shake that feeling, but decided to keep that away from her primary line of thought.

"Now, why did you attack us?" Demona growled, "What is with this 'test' that you refer to?"

"That is part of my creation, which I can not tell you," Marilyn answered, "I can tell you that it is to prove I am powerful in magic."

Marilyn then kicked Demona in the stomach, hard. The blow felt as hard as any physical blow she had received while she was still on her quest to destroy humanity from the clan. She flew back into the dumpster, aggravating the wing she had already broken, and slumped to the ground while Marilyn tossed the chain aside.

"Among other things," Marilyn finished.

Demona growled and fired a powerful lightning spell from each hand, throwing Marilyn against the wall with such force that some of the bricks looked cracked when she fell to the floor. The sorceress appeared to have a gargoyle's strength. She couldn't just use her magic as a shield to get in close, she was going to have to rely on her greater power to defeat Marilyn.

"Let's see how you deal with raw power," Demona growled in a low voice.

Demona cast her lightning spell again, which Marilyn this time managed to dodge away from. But from looking at her, Demona could see that sorceress had had enough from just one hit. She only created three spinning saw blades and flung them at Demona and vanished into thin air.

"This isn't over gargoyle," Marilyn vowed as she vanished from sight, "This was only round one!"

Demona managed to dodge most of the saw blades, but one did nick her arm as it went by. This made the immortal female gargoyle hiss with pain, and allowed Marilyn to escape. Once Marilyn was gone, Demona gave a defeated sigh and slowly made her way back up to the roof and sat next to the presently sleeping body of Wedrington.

"There is no way this is over," Demona growled to herself after a few moments.

**Tibet, Shortly After Dawn**

Marilyn sat quietly in front of Khan's desk looking rather depressed. She had sworn to defeat Demona, and had failed to do so, and she was sure now that Khan would have her killed for her failure.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I was not able to defeat Demona," Marilyn spoke slowly after a few moments.

"I know," Khan answered, "We watched on the camera feed that you provided us."

"If I may speak in my defense, she is quite skilled in magic and how to use it in battle," Marilyn commented.

"We warned you about that before you decided to go and battle her," Khan answered.

Marilyn looked somewhat depressed. It was beginning to appear that she might have to try and escape Khan's base is she wanted to survive.

"However, you did have Demona on the ropes for a little while," Khan answered, "And with a broken wing, she couldn't have pursued you all that well, even if you hadn't used magic."

"Sir?" Marilyn asked looking up at Khan.

"You more then proved your capabilities in magic," Khan answered, "According to the Illuminati's files, few sorcerers have ever challenged Demona directly and survived an all out fight. You not only survived but essentially fought her to a draw."

Marilyn looked up, suddenly beginning to regain her confidence.

"So you're not going to kill me?" Marilyn asked.

"No," Khan answered, "You've earned your spot as my partner. Now if you listen closely, I'll inform you on the details of the overall plan."

**To Be Continued…**


	7. Preperations

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place one week after "Even in the Darkest Night…".

Preparations

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Tibet**

"And you're afraid they'll have China nuke this base?" Marilyn asked as she walked with Khan through the base that Khan's supermen had taken from the Illuminati.

"That is what I've told you," Khan answered, "The entire emphasis of this operation is to insure that when the rebellion begins, the Chinese have no nuclear arsenal."

"They'll only build more if I destroy them in their silos or launching facilities if they have them above ground," Marilyn answered.

"My suggestion was that your magic could deal with them," Khan answered, "I did not ask that you blow them up. If I wanted t blow them up, I'd order my men to begin a very complex mission that would probably take a year to accomplish the same results that you could do in less time."

"Yes, but countries armed with nuclear weapons generally check them," Marilyn answered, "I'd have to do the same thing all over again if I were to turn the plutonium or uranium in the missile warheads into lead or something that will not go through a fission or fusion reaction so easily."

"You can not put a delayed action spell on them?" Khan asked.

"Hm?" Marilyn asked back.

"Cast a spell that would not take effect until they tried to launch the missile," Khan answered, "Then when it launches, the spell takes effect and the missile is made harmless."

"I've proved that I am powerful in magic and that your cloners can duplicate magical ability successfully. But, I can sense limits. Something like that would require a lot more power then I have available, as it would require one spell cast on the missile to transform it and then another spell cast on the first spell to hold it back and then a third spell on that and connected to the launching devices that would unlock the first spell as the missile is launched. Such spell casting is beyond me."

Khan grumbled something that Marilyn couldn't hear, and chose to ignore it.

"Perhaps continued visits might help," Khan spoke thinking, "If their missiles suddenly turn to wood or something and the factories responsible for producing nuclear material are suddenly destroyed, they will suddenly find us less important."

"Even while we wage an insurgency against them, even while making sure that they do not know who we are?" Marilyn asked, "Logically, if someone was fighting us, I wouldn't care about nuclear weapons, I'd care about destroying the enemy first."

"Yes," Khan nodded, "that would be the logical and even reasonable answer. But, the Illuminati has made sure that the leaders of the world have had an obsession with the weapon ever since its creation. The United States and the Soviet Union spent years racing each other to see who could build more. According to the files that we have here from the Illuminati, it got so bad that they had to directly step in and order both the American President and the Soviet Premier to sign treaties agreeing to reduce the number of weapons that they have."

"So we let China militarize itself to death?" Marilyn asked.

"Fruitless spending," Khan answered with a smile, "no one likes money being spent on things that bring them no benefit. That's why Western Democracies have so many riots. Lots of people with different ideas as to how their money can be or should be spent."

"There is still a difference in culture," Marilyn reminded him, "The Chinese are not European and they most certainly aren't American."

"True," Khan answered, "but politics is politics, and that is what we will be manipulating. I do not seek to change anyone's culture."

"Just the rulers," Marilyn chuckled.

"Yes," Khan smiled, "Will you need any help in disabling the Chinese missiles?"

"No," Marilyn smiled, "And I can insure that the Illuminati learn only what will help us."

With that, Marilyn disappeared from view as Khan continued into the briefing room that now also housed a long range communications device. Approaching the desk, Khan pressed one of a series of call buttons and sat down at the table.

"This is Khan to Long range recon, over," Khan spoke.

"I'm here," came an answer over the radio, "Are we secure?"

"Not even the Illuminati can detect our transmissions," Khan answered confidently, "Now report what you've found."

"You sent me out in search of something that could distract American attention while you prepare to deal with China, and I must say there are plenty of things to be distracted with, once you get past the fact that most of it is desert," the man answered, "there are a variety of things that could distract American politicians, although I have only been observing so far. Whether or not they will is a different matter."

"What have you observed?" Khan asked.

"Everything from religious based terrorist groups, theocratic governments, and one secular dictator," the man answered, "I would also like to say that I do not wish to meet with any of these people as they all seem to be a rather suspicious sort."

"Keep observing them for now, but do not get involved and do not jeopardize my mission," Khan answered, "If they are anti-American that is perfectly fine. They can shield us from facing the might of the American armed forces."

"What makes you think they will act as a shield for us?" the man asked.

"Religion makes good people do rather evil things when they think what they're doing is 'God's will'," Khan answered.

**Bismarck, North Dakota, USA**

"I truly dislike landing here to spend the day under a bridge," Demona grumbled as she and the Chinese gargoyles walked under a bridge over the Missouri river.

"True, but it's the safest place around here," Wedrington commented from beside her, "We're out of sight and even shielded from the elements."

"Yes, but we'll have to do a lot of walking to leave this place," Demona answered, "If we used one of the rooftops as a roost we could just glide away tomorrow night."

"Maybe so," Yama commented from beside the water, "but buildings in this city are not tall enough nor styled the right way that would make the appearance of gargoyles there to be normal. Someone would be bound to see us and given that America knows about Goliath's clan, we could walk into a trap if we were to roost in the open out here."

Demona didn't know how to answer that. Safety and security were among her chief concerns, and given human reaction in New York to gargoyles, she figured that the reaction elsewhere would be worse.

"Perhaps," Demona sighed, "I just prefer roosting somewhere that has a higher altitude though."

"That's natural for a gargoyle," Je Lu answered, "As we can not fly like the birds or like bats can, we need a fair amount of height in order for our wings to catch whatever breeze is blowing at the moment. But Yama is right. Tibet is a long way away from here and we can not stop those supermen if we are smashed by some rabble rouser starting a rally."

Their discussion stopped as the sun rose and the gargoyles turned to stone for the day.

**China**

Ki and Dien stood quietly at attention outside one of China's nuclear missile launch sites as they made sure that no one got close enough to do anything that could either damage the equipment or destroy the missile. They weren't the only guards, but they were the only ones guarding this specific gate, and they were under orders to stop anyone who approached it. The region they were in at present was not near any major city or any tourist site, which is why they were surprised when a woman with white hair and wearing a very low cut dress suddenly came walking along the road toward them.

"Hello, what's on the other side of the fence?" the woman asked.

Ki and Dien exchanged glances and crossed their assault rifles to make sure the woman stopped walking.

"The area is off limits to all persons under the protection of the People's Republic and people traveling as tourists within the People's Republic," Ki spoke first, "You are to turn around and return to where you came from."

"What, you mean that isn't the Great Wall?" the woman asked.

Ki and Dien glanced at each other again.

"The Great Wall is over five hundred miles north of our location," Dien answered, "You need to stop walking ma'am, or we will be forced to use lethal force."

"Oh you wouldn't want to do that to little ol' me? Would you?" the woman asked leaning forward and running her hands along the jaw line of Ki and Dien.

"We have orders not to let anyone pass," Ki answered, "We can not leave our post."

The woman had by now come so close that she was practically leaning on Ki and Dien.

"Good," the woman answered, her tone changing from one that sounded like she was trying to seduce them to one that was more evil and triumphant.

She then grabbed Ki and Dien and threw them in opposite directions. In their panic, the two soldiers fired their weapons, but as they had not been looking where they were aiming and that their shots were based on reflex rather then training, they ended up shooting each other. Marilyn's normal image of a white haired woman in commando gear then appeared at the gate. She heard Ki and Dien groaning from where they landed, indicating that they weren't dead, but she was sure they had to be hurting. With one strong kick, she broke down the chain-link gate and walked into the compound.

"You'll at least know that you did your duty," Marilyn commented and kept walking towards the center of the compound.

**Location Unknown**

"They've what!?" Six gasped as one of the intelligence men finished a report.

"She, singular," the man answered, "She was the only one in these raids."

"I find that hard to believe," Six answered, "All reports indicate that Demona is in New York, with her clan of things."

"All the security camera footage we've got indicates that she's in China," the intelligence man reported, "and that she's been destroying China's nuclear missile sites one by one."

"I'll have to see the footage," Six answered, not believing a word that he had been told.

"If you'll follow me, sir," the man responded.

The man then lead Six to a video recording type area where various Illuminati agents were watching the recorded images from important places around the world, mostly from security cameras that had been installed in those locations as part of a nerve center that did not allow much to escape.

"Okay, this is the first missile site that she broke into," the man reported.

Six then watched the black and white screen display the image of a gargoyle, looking like Demona approach a mobile Chinese nuclear missile launcher and then turn the missiles into large wooden logs and then glide off.

"And this the second missile site," the man continued.

The image then changed to what appeared to be an underground bunker type setting as Demona walked through at least twenty armed Chinese guards, throwing off lightning spells and physically throwing those who got close. From what Six could see on the screen, all her blows were lethal. He could then see through a monitoring window on the screen that she turned the missile inside a silo into gasoline and then left. The camera shortly thereafter recorded a brief spark and then static.

"We haven't received the security camera footage from the rest of her attacks, but our 'call in' reports all say that she was there," the man finished.

"You're sure it's Demona?" Six asked, "Judging by these camera shots."

"Same facial features," the man replied, "same clothing and jewelry, same physical fighting style, obvious sorceress, and is not using any other object as a magical conduit."

"These screens are all in black and white," Six answered, "Gargoyles come in all different colors and for all we know, we could have a clone doing this. We've received some strange reports about the goings on in New York concerning the clan there."

"That is possible, sir, but we know that Demona was involved somehow in the funding of the clone experiments in New York and would not allow herself to be cloned," the man answered, "and as for lacking a 'color' analysis, while yes we can not tell if the female is sky blue, I would say that that is the most likely color, as there are not enough Scottish gargoyles for us to make a mistake in identifying the wrong gargoyle."

There was a brief silence for a time before the man continued.

"And even if we are wrong, Demona surely knows who this gargoyle is, and that this proves that gargoyles, or at least some portion of their population are involved in this insurgency against us," the man finished.

"I will need to take this before the Council," Six commented, "But I thank you for your report and your input."

**Tibet**

Khan was looking over reports from his ambush teams that were out gathering supplies and equipment for the coming campaign he had to first wage against China when Marilyn reappeared inside his office.

"It is finished for now," Marilyn answered, "China has no nuclear missiles and three of their launch facilities have also been destroyed."

"And there was no way for any radiation damage?" Khan asked.

"None," Marilyn answered, "They were not built to withstand magic and have no iron. Radiation is easily countered and eliminated through mystical means."

"Good," Khan answered, "Why rule a world that is destroyed in nuclear rays? That is why that weapon is pointless. The nations that ought to war with each other won't because of the other's presence of 'the bomb' and they commonly use the threat of it to bully those who don't have 'the bomb'."

"I suspect that will all be different by the time that we are done," Marilyn commented, "No weapons of mass destruction for anyone to use, even if the only viable option would be to use it."

"Yes," Khan nodded with a smile, "That would greatly tip the scales in our favor."

**Unknown Location**

"I knew that these gargoyles were in league with, if not the creators of this insurgence!" Three exclaimed, "Now we have proof."

"We have proof that Demona is involved," Six corrected, "We must apprehend her first before we can discern as to whether or not the entire gargoyle race is against us."

"The clan in London is against us," four commented.

"They are also under the influence of Pendragon and Merlin," Three answered, "I'll agree that they are proof, but they are not our chief concern as Merlin is for the time being powerless. There is nothing they can do."

One nodded from his seat.

"The London Clan has been removed from our concern for the time being," One answered, "and the Manhattan clan is already under tight surveillance. If Demona has left New York to run this campaign, it means she is either on her own or is working with a different clan. Did the images show her with any other gargoyles?"

"No, she was on her own," Six answered, "And even still, in terms of power, she is the equal of the Mage. Even alone she is far more dangerous then the rest of these insurgents."

"I think we can agree that finding her is to be our top priority and that we are to put our top agents on this project,"

The rest of the Council nodded, "Then we are in agreement. I want all our available resources to begin searching for Demona. With her powers as a sorceress, she could be anywhere by now."

**Bismarck, North Dakota, Dusk**

The area was quiet as Demona and the Chinese gargoyles awoke for the night. She stretched briefly and sighed when she heard the sound of heavy traffic going over the bridge above them.

"We'll need to walk for a while until we can find a place to glide," Yama commented.

"That is better then being smashed," Je Lu replied, "Besides, it will allow for more time to admire the landscape. This river is almost as big as the ones in China."

"Come on," Demona urged, "We'd best go. Human street gangs commonly use these places as hideouts when they think the police won't find them there."

The group sighed and began to follow Demona and Wedrington along the bank of the river in search of either a vacant area near a tall building or a telephone pole of power line tower near the river that they could use to gain enough height to glide away. It took awhile, but they did find one eventually. As they left, however, they were spotted by a policeman who had just picked up someone for being drunk in a public place. He immediately went back to his car and pulled out a phone.

"Watchbase Dakota, this is James Bell in Bismarck," the officer reported, "I believe I've sighted Demona and what appears to be an entire clan of gargoyles take off from along the Missouri River."

"You're sure it's Demona?" a demanding voice asked back.

"Yes," Bell answered, "I would try to get a better look at the group but I've got 'other' work to deal with."

"That is understood," the voice answered, "We will deal with them."

Demona and her group had just made it outside the city limits when the attack came. It was a trio of helicopters, each armed with a fifty caliber machinegun mounted on the nose of each helicopter. Wedrington had actually heard the engines before they had a chance to fire, and the group scattered when they did fire. All three helicopters flew threw in a straight line and slowly turned around.

"Quarrymen!" Demona growled as the three helicopters flew past, eyes blazing red.

"I thought they were destroyed," Wedrington asked as the helicopters began to turn around.

"The ones in New York were," Demona answered.

"I can not see any insignia on the helicopters," Yama commented from his position, "How can you tell?"

"The humans have not sent any military or police after our kind any sort of hunt," Demona answered, "and all government aircraft must have some sort of insignia. The Quarrymen as a private group, do not."

"They're coming around again," Shi La spoke pointing toward the three helicopters.

The three helicopters did not move forward his time, but began training their guns and firing from a distance. Je Lu took one round through his shoulder, and screaming with pain, fell from the air. Yohi was hit three times in his wings, but fortunately, none hit any of his wing bones, but he would not be able to glide well for awhile. Demona watched all this and growled in anger.

"Blasted humans!" Demona screamed, and fired a series of lightning spells at the closest helicopter.

The helicopter exploded and forced the other two the swerve away so that they would not be hit by flying shrapnel.

"We must bring one of the helicopters down relatively safely," Yama yelled, as Demona prepared to attack again, "It will be the only way that we learn who is attacking us and why."

Demona nodded and aimed her next lightning spell at the rear rotor of the second helicopter. Without the rear rotor, the helicopter spun out of control and crashed in flames on the ground. Shi La and on of the other Chinese females quickly landed near it and began to pull the pilots out of the helicopter.

"Make sure they aren't armed!" Demona called down to them.

Shi La was about to give an answer when she saw four bullets fly through Demona's body, one shattering her right shoulder, a second going through her chest and out her back, a third shattering her left shoulder, causing Demona to fall from the air, landing hard, not more then five feet away from the crashed helicopter.

"Demona!" Shi La screamed.

"She'll be fine," Wedrington answered from above her, "We'll deal with this last helicopter, somehow, you get the pilots of that one out."

Wedrington meanwhile moved toward the third helicopter, which was still preparing to aim at its next target, while Yama and Yoshi quickly moved to follow him. While his heart screamed to go to Demona's side, he knew that unless Macbeth as the pilot of the helicopter, she would be alive again fairly shortly, and he was fairly certain that he wasn't. He was successful in getting onto the side of the helicopter, but quickly found that the glass that surrounded the cockpit was too strong for even him to break or tear off. Thankfully, his added weight slowed the helicopter down and allowed Yoshi and Yama to latch onto the helicopter.

"How do we bring this down?" Yama questioned, "Even if Yoshi and I had swords, they would not stop this thing."

"I've met a gargoyle who fought in World War II with the RAF," Wedrington answered, "He didn't need a sword to take down German fighters, although, I don't know for sure if they had bullet proof glass back then."

"Let's get that gun taken off of this thin before he fires again," Yoshi cut in, "He might simply leave if we remove his lone weapon to attack us with."

Yoshi then climbed underneath the helicopter and grabbed the barrel of the machine gun that was mounted there. He cringed slightly as it was still hot from firing, but did not let go. With one strong tug, he managed to pull the gun off of its housing and threw it to the ground.

"There, now it can not shoot at us any more," Yoshi spoke with triumph in his voice.

Almost as if on cue, the sides of the helicopter electrified, causing all three of the gargoyles to let go and fall a little ways before regaining control and gliding after the helicopter. Chasing after the vehicle now seemed to be a rather difficult option, as it was flying away at a faster and faster speed and gaining altitude as it went.

"We drove it off!" Je Lu sighed as Wedrington and the others landed.

"They'll be back," Wedrington answered, "and possibly in greater numbers. We'd best get out of here."

"I don't know if we can win though now," Je Lu spoke, his voice suddenly grave, "Demona is dead, and she is the one we've come all this way for."

"We'll be fine," Wedrington answered as he picked up Demona's body, "Demona's association with sorcerers and other beings of magic given her a conditioned immortality. The only one who can truly kill her is a man named Macbeth."

"What if he was the pilot of the helicopter?" Shi La asked.

"Then the helicopter would have crashed," Wedrington answered, "as he is linked to her. If he kills her, he dies as well. And since that helicopter flew off quite fast and under control, I doubt it was piloted by Macbeth."

"So she will be okay?" a Chinese female asked.

"In time," Wedrington answered, "Now, we must move quickly, and bring the downed chopper pilots with us."

"He's right," a Chinese male spoke, "I can hear sirens."

The group then began to sprint away from the area as fast as they could go, Wedrington carrying Demona, and Shi La and another Chinese female carrying the two downed helicopter pilots. Ten minutes later two police cruisers and a fire engine showed up and quickly observed the crashed helicopters and the fires coming from them.

**Hours Later**

Demona awoke to finding herself laying on the limb of a large tree in what appeared to be a small grove of them.

"Where am I?" Demona asked as she struggled to get into a seated position.

"We're in a small grove of trees about ten miles from the last city we were in," came Wedrington's voice, "We're still along the river, although I think we might be on someone's ranch or farming land."

"I have no interest in farmers," Demona answered.

"You might have interest in the pilots of the helicopter that you didn't destroy," Yoshi spoke up from a different branch, "They've been up for half an hour and have been saying rather nasty things about you, which I wouldn't care to repeat."

Demona looked up to see two Chinese males holding the two men down against another large branch. Both men were screaming obscenities.

"You, humans!" Demona shouted at them to get their attention, "I have some questions for you."

"You will not win, you fowl creature!" the first pilot shouted back.

"What branch of the Quarrymen do you work for?" Demona asked, trying to hold her temper, although it was clear in her voice that these men irritated her.

"We don't work for those wackos," the second pilot screamed back, "So get over yourself. We only attacked you because of what you've done!"

"And what have I 'done' that has you attacking innocent gargoyles?" Demona growled, her eyes taking on a faint glow.

"Innocent!" the first pilot answered, "You're all involved! You're all trying to destabilize the world! The way it's been set, you're trying to destroy it!"

"We were attacked by strange supermen," Je Lu answered from a different tree, "My clan seeks to protect our clan's 'home' from these invaders before they cause greater problems."

"And as for me, my only designs on the world would be that gargoyles rule it," Demona answered, "But there aren't enough gargoyles for that to be possible and I have promised to let my former mate build a bridge between humans and gargoyles. Although with racists like yourselves, I might consider taking my promise back, now tell me WHO DO YOU WORK FOR!?"

"We primarily work for the ones who rule the world," the first pilot answered, "The ones who bring order to chaos. The Illuminati."

Demona only growled at this.

"And you attacked China to aide the insurgents there!" the second pilot added.

"The insurgents are likely the same supermen that attacked my clan," Je Lu countered, "We intend to stop them."

"If this happened recently, I should also tell you that I was here in stone sleep when these attacks occurred," Demona growled, "I have not attacked China!"

The two pilots began to yell something, which finally broke Demona's temper and the gargoyle sorceress chanted in Latin and sent a wave of emerald energy at the two pilots. As the energy touched them, they felt themselves pulled down to the ground and then began to scream in pain as they both turned into a pair of Holstein bulls.

"What did you do to them?" Wedrington asked.

"Given them a new lease on life," Demona answered, "If this is ranch land or farm land, someone will find them, and humans do not eat that type of cattle."

"They don't eat the females because they're used as diary cattle," Wedrington answered, "I do not know what they would do with Holstein bulls, especially in an area that is used for raising beef cattle. They might just be sold to make ground beef anyway."

"Two less racists to worry about," Demona answered shrugging it off.

"That wasn't right," Yama spoke, "They may have been in the wrong, but it was dishonorable to do such a thing to them."

"And let them run back to the Illuminati and let them know where we are sleeping?" Demona asked back, "Honor is not my concern. Survival is. If we had done the honorable thing, they would return to the their masters and we would be smashed during the day because of actions that took place in China."

"How could they think you got all the way to China?" Yoshi asked.

"They probably thought I used magic to do it," Demona answered, "Not knowing that teleportation spells are fairly complex and can not be done over many miles."

"My greater concern would be why and who would be impersonating you to get the Illuminati's attention?" Je Lu asked.

"It has to be that Marilyn woman," Demona answered, "The one who attacked us in Detroit. She must have disguised herself as me!"

"Why?" Wedrington wondered, "She seemed quite powerful from the way you described her. Why would she need to disguise herself as you?"

"I do not know," Demona answered in a frustrated sounding voice, "I would assume it is because that she does not want me to make it to China where she and where the supermen are."

"I think that Marilyn woman is in league with the supermen," Shi La commented, "Her clothing as you described it matches the uniforms that the supermen wore."

"That makes everything much clearer," Demona could only sigh, "We still have no ideas as to why she or the supermen have been doing what they're doing, other then a basic wish to take over the world, but there has to be something more then that. Why else would the Illuminati be involved."

"They tried to stop us from getting to New York," Je Lu commented, "I think that they think we are behind this insurgency in Tibet, which as some secret society, they do not want."

"We will get to Tibet and we will stop these supermen," Demona answered, "This, I vow to you."

"We understand," Je Lu answered.

"You will understand however that things are going to be much harder now as they are likely to be hunting us if they think we attacked facilities in China," Demona explained slowly.

"They will see things differently after we stop the supermen," a Chinese male answered, "I'm sure we can endure until then."

"I have sworn on my honor that their home will be restored," Yama answered, "I, at least will see this through until their home is restored. We may need to stop in Ishimura to drop of Yoshi though, as I only dragged him away from our clan so I could understand the Chinese gargoyles, and since Coyote's spell has made it possible for us to understand other peoples and be understood by them, I'm sure Yoshi would wish to return home."

"Actually, Yama, the entire adventure has been rather interesting," Yoshi commented, "One worth a grand story, which would go great in Ishimura's library. I think I might like to continue on to record the events of this adventure. But it still might be wise to stop at Ishimura and restock our supplies, and perhaps teach Demona a thing or two about bushido."

"I am not concerned with 'honor' systems," Demona answered.

"Maybe so," Yama answered, "But there are ways that those men could have been dealt with without robbing them of their humanity, and in being honorable. You perform acts of sorcery, a sleeping spell would have been better."

Demona growled silently, as she did not like anyone challenging her or lecturing her. She only calmed when Wedrington put a hand on her shoulder.

"We'll consider it," Wedrington spoke, "It might prove useful for other things."

And with that the sun rose again, leaving the gargoyles as stone statues, perched on strong thick branches for the day. The calls of two Holstein bulls could be heard in the distance echoing in the wind.

**To Be Continued…**


	8. Ambush

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place one week after "Preparations".

Ambush

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Tibet**

Bei Ting lead a small patrol along the small valley between two large snow capped mountains in search of the guerilla forces that had been attacking Chinese troops for the past few months, and recently somehow robbed China of its nuclear weapons. He was determined to gain a victory for China and put an end to the sudden rebellion. News reporters on Chinese run television stations had reported that the government was openly debating whether or not to begin outright massacres of Tibetan people, just to draw out the guerrillas. Bei hopped it didn't come to that.

As they came around a small ridge in the valley they suddenly enveloped in smoke and mist that seemed to come out of nowhere. Bei couldn't see anything in front of him desperately moved to rally his men.

"Steady, men!" Bei ordered, "Steady! It's smoke grenades, they'll try and close with us soon."

As he said that, he saw several dark figures move in the mist, and guessed they were some of the guerillas that had been battling China.

"Surrender!" Bei commanded to them, "I order you to surrender in the name of the Chinese Army!"

The answer Bei received was a hail of gunfire that made Bei duck down and killed more then half of his squad behind him. Bei and his surviving men tried to fire back, but their opponents seemed to disappear into the mist and their bullets never hit anything. Bei then screamed as he felt several bits of metal fly into the back of one of his legs making him throw his rifle in surprise.

He tried to roll over and look himself over, despite that that wasn't the safest thing to do in a combat situation, but he had to see where he was wounded and how bad it was. When he did see, he wanted to throw up. He could see blood pouring out of holes in the back of his trousers, and on top of that he could see the gruesome results of what the grenade had done to the two squad members behind him. He hoped their bodies would be properly 'buried' when everything was over. He then put his faced down and moaned in pain and privately hoping for mercy.

It was then that the mist began to clear. As it did so, Bei saw several men wearing commando gear as well as masks that covered their entire face. He also saw one or two young men who looked like they were native Tibetans, at least he thought they were, based on government magazines that he had read describing Chinese 'unity'. All of these men were armed with weaponry that looked like it was actually Chinese, which shocked Bei as he had been told that the guerrillas were being supplied by someone outside of China.

"This one is still alive," one of the Tibetans said, pointing his rifle at Bei.

"Kill him," one of the commando dressed guerillas ordered, "They wouldn't give us any quarter if the situation was reversed. Remember what they did to their own people in Tiananmen Square."

The Tibetan slowly nodded while Bei begged for mercy. Unfortunately for Bei, the last think he saw was the muzzle flash of the gun right in front of him. The lead commando then activated a communications device that patched him through back to Khan's base.

"We have begun the 'escalation' phase of the conflict," the lead commando spoke, "China's government will begin to truly anger the local people now."

"Good," came Khan's voice over the radio, "Make sure that we have their weapons and equipment, as with the original ambush plans, leave anything that the government will need to identify the bodies."

"Strip them of their weapons and ammunition," the lead commando then ordered, "but leave their uniforms, wallets, money, and identification on them."

"Shouldn't we burry them?" one of the Tibetans with them asked, "Or give them a proper ceremonial cremation?"

"No," the lead commando answered, "The Chinese will send out another patrol later and will find the bodies of this patrol. That will let them now that the Tibetan Freedom movement is completely serious."

The Tibetan hesitantly nodded and then sighed, and reluctantly carried out his orders.

**Khan's base**

"You're certain it is time begin the real defeat of the Chinese army?" Marilyn asked Khan stepped away from the small radio in the main monitoring room of the instillation.

"We've robbed China of its nuclear weapons and have successfully made their government consider using tactics that would get them in trouble internationally," Khan answered, "If we continue using non-lethal tactics, my army will never be able to accomplish our goals."

"I am strong enough that they could never take this base," Marilyn answered, "We could probably defeat without even killing a single person."

"Yes, but sudden regime changes can be difficult and the Chinese will not readily accept a new government," Khan answered, "Their changes in government have always been violent. Either a foreign power invaded, the Emperor was assassinated, or rival factions fought it out amongst themselves for power."

"That could make a case for avoiding a war with China," Marilyn commented, "I still say we should use magic and make their government swear fealty to us."

"No, the Chinese people in general would back the communists and the Chinese in exile on Taiwan would challenge our right to govern," Khan answered, "We must crush the communists through the only way that the Chinese know how. With them defeated, there will be no hope for them to turn to Taiwan for aide."

"They might turn to America or Russia," Marilyn pointed out.

"After the border conflicts they had with Russia in the Cold War, I doubt they'd be willing to turn to them, and if they do turn to America, all we need to do is tell them they're helping communists," Khan said with a smile, "simply say the word 'communist' and Americans get all nutty about it, and not 'nutty' as in in favor of it."

"They do recognize China as an important trading partner," Marilyn pointed out.

"Then we will promise them better trading treaties once we are in power," Khan answered, "Hopefully our scouts elsewhere in the world can find or start a different international crisis that the Americans will stick their noses into and will thus be unable to give us the attention that will be required to stop us."

"Well, hopefully they are successful," Marilyn commented, "What do you suppose the Illuminati will do because of this?"

"Probably think that Demona is upping the ante," Khan answered.

**Unknown Location**

"The ongoing guerilla war escalated dramatically as the Chinese government has reported that the first Chinese soldiers have been killed in the conflict," a news reporter spoke from a television screen in a very serious tone, "they have not disclosed how many men were killed, nor the exact location, or how the event happened, but it is for certain that this conflict is certainly not going to go away any time soon."

"And these are the first soldiers killed in the conflict?" a studio reporter asked.

"The first that have been reported," he reporter answered, "Tensions have been high here, but so far all the engagements so far have ended with Chinese forces being wounded and their equipment stolen, but that doesn't mean that there have been more violent engagements before this present time that we have not been informed about."

One then turned off the television and sighed heavily to the rest of the gathered Council.

"Demona's followers are escalating the fight," One spoke firmly, "Now what do we do?"

"Ordering the Chinese to increase their efforts to crush the insurgents should be one of the objectives," Four commented, "Send aircraft to try and strike at these rebels."

"I suppose," One sighed, "I would prefer to try and keep this small. All the news attention that is going toward this conflict could reveal us."

"Perhaps we ought to ask Khan to take some role in defeating these insurgents," Three offered, "It would save us a lot of trouble of trying to keep our organization secret."

"No," Two argued, "We need him to directly protect our facility while we try to get a new scientific team to run it."

"But all the potential scientists are killed before we can get them there," Three argued, "It's probably some part of this insurgent war against us, but the point is that we don't have a team to send to our Tibet Installation. It'd be better to give Khan a job more important then guarding one small facility. The insurgents started this war by attacking it. Surely Khan wants vengeance for that."

"No," One said authoritatively, "We will leave Khan where he is. Besides, even if he helps us, the Chinese will ask questions about his presence."

"Then our best option is to kill the brains behind the entire insurgency," Five spoke, "Demona and the gargoyles with her."

"Where is she?" One asked.

"According to our satellites, she and the Chinese gargoyles are nearing the city of Vancouver in Canada," Five answered, "I believe their ultimate intention is to return to Tibet."

"To take a direct lead in the rebellion," One nodded, "Do we have anything or anyone in Vancouver that can deal with Demona?"

"The only one who could is Macbeth," Three answered, "And he has apparently given up hunting her to help Arthur Pendragon."

One sighed, knowing full well the frustration that Arthur was currently creating for the Illuminati.

"Do we have anyone or anything that can knock her out long enough to put her out long enough for us to get her into a cell that we can keep her in?" One asked rephrasing his earlier question.

"I do not know, sir," Four spoke up "We might be able to put something together that takes out some of her help while we ready something more powerful, but we really do not know how this will effect Demona herself. I mean, none of us really understand the spell she is under. Other then that she is immortal unless Macbeth kills her, we know nothing."

"And since the Unseelies, our primary source for knowledge on this have disappeared, we no longer know many of the specifics," Two added.

"Yes, but they would have tried to destroy us if the Manhattan Clan and their allies hadn't stopped them," One reminded the council, "So it's all's well that ends well. We'll just have experiment in dealing with Demona."

"Isn't it possible to 'kill' her, at least for a little while though?" Four asked.

"Yes, but the problem is that we've never been able to calculate how long she will stay 'dead'," Two commented, "The Unseelies told us that she could be dead from anywhere from as long as a day to as short as a few minutes. Repeated experimentation and timing of how long she is out is needed."

"Then we experiment," Three offered, "Surely we can keep her allies busy while we test her to see how long, on average, she stays dead."

"Very well," One nodded, "Notify all commando units in the area. It is time to 'experiment' on an immortal."

**Vancouver, Canada**

Demona looked out over the skyline of one of western Canada's largest cities and toward the Pacific ocean and Vancouver Island beyond. The others were finishing up their breakfast behind her on the rooftop of a fairly tall church that they had found. Her thoughts were conflicted over how to deal with the supermen that the Tibetans had told her about or with the Illuminati, who now seemed to be shadowing their movement west from New York.

"Troubles?" Wedrington asked as he slipped out of the bell tower where the others were eating.

"Things are continuing to become more difficult," Demona answered.

"You mean these supermen are getting stronger?" Wedrington asked.

"Not them," Demona replied, "They will be foes to face once we arrive in Tibet, but for now it appears that the Illuminati are our real foes."

"Our real foes?" Wedrington questioned.

"They have been shadowing us ever since North Dakota," Demona answered, "That 'Marilyn's' impersonation of me has made me believe that I am attacking them."

"So you're going to attack them because they think you're they're enemy?" Wedrington commented, "Isn't that playing into what Marilyn and these supermen want?"

"I don't want to battle them, but they insist on following us," Demona growled, "I can not allow them to smash the others or smash you."

Wedrington blushed a little bit at the remark, knowing from his experiences that the immortal female did not share many personal thoughts easily.

"We can simply try ignore them," Wedrington commented, "Move carefully and only fight them if they attack us first."

"That is all we can do," Demona answered, "The Illuminati are skilled at hiding. Cowards that they are. But, when they attack us, I have no intention of holding back."

"Killing those that are defeated would be dishonorable," Yama commented as he and he rest began to come out.

"I've told you before that I am not interested in honor," Demona answered, "I am more concerned with survival. The Illuminati would not do the 'honorable' thing if our situations were ever reversed."

"It isn't wise to lower yourself to their level," Yama commented, "Japanese news stations did record the events of the 'Hunter's Moon' in New York, they know that your clan exists, and the Illuminati knows that."

"I am not part of that clan anymore," Demona dodged the comment, "I may not be their enemy, but I am not a member of that clan."

"Maybe," Yoshi spoke up, "but the people of the world won't know or understand that, and from what I have observed, outside of the cities where people know gargoyles exist, at present New York City in America, and Ishimura in Japan, few of the people really believed those news reports, and those that did largely jumped to various conclusions based on half-truths, probably spread by either the few ignorant or racist parts of humanity. The Illuminati likely knows this."

"That is not my concern," Demona answered.

"But if they control the world, and know that the world does not trust gargoyles," Yama commented, "What is to stop them from staging a battle and filming it. Then after you lower yourself to their level, wouldn't they then have enough hard evidence to create a propaganda campaign that could make presently neutral people hate gargoyles?"

That made Demona think for a moment. If she had been asked that question three years ago, she would have sworn that it didn't matter and that humanity deserved its destruction. Things had, however, changed since then and she knew that as well. She had been trying to reconnect with Angela, and she knew that her daughter had long since chosen to follow Goliath and would never do anything that the clan would consider wrong, and her desire for her daughter to like her was far stronger then any of her darker thoughts which she found surprising from time to time, but something she couldn't and probably wouldn't fight.

Then there was also Wedrington. He certainly would not allow her to do anything close to what she had done in the past, and given the time he had spent with her, her instincts told her he was a prospective mate. At the same time, she was becoming more and more certain that she was beginning to love him, which she thought she would never be able to do, especially considering the dramatic events that had happened to her. Goliath being locked in stone sleep for a thousand years, breaking their bond and Thailog purposely betraying her. She hated being alone for so long between each of her previous loves and was absolutely enraged after Thailog betrayed her, but Wedrington had proven calm and to a great degree understanding. And despite learning of some of the worst things she had done, he continued to remain her companion. She felt she would be heartbroken if she were to lose him. She was certain that Angela and certainly Wedrington would accept her old answer.

"I suppose not," Demona sighed, "I still believe that in gargoyle-human relations, it has been humanity's fault that gargoyles have died, but perhaps it might be wiser to try and educate them rather then to give them a real reason to hate us."

"I suppose that is for the best," Je Lu commented, "But we must get moving."

"Yes," Shi La added in agreement, "If the Illuminati are indeed following us, our best move would be to keep moving."

"So what is our next move?" a female named Tai-Wee asked.

"I believe we should stick close to the islands," Demona commented, pointing to Vancouver Island, "There are fewer human settlements on these islands then there are on the mainland. We will not be as easily detected."

The others nodded and they then took to the air. As they did, a lone man on the ground looked up and watched the group head for Vancouver Island, or at least in that direction.

"This is spy one," the man spoke into a walkie-talkie, "Demona and followers appear to be headed for Vancouver Island."

"We're ready," came the reply over the walkie-talkie.

**Vancouver Island**

As Demona and the others moved over a fairly heavily forested section of Vancouver Island, they found the entire area to be rather quiet, other then the sound of crickets and the hoot of an owl or two.

"This territory is all very interesting," Shi La commented, "So very different from Tibet."  
"What the people here call 'the Rockies' seemed to remind me of what Demona and I saw of Tibet," Wedrington commented.

"Parts of it, but there are no forests in Tibet like these here," Je Lu told him, "If it weren't for the fact that our situation was so serious, we would consider this a rather pleasant vacation."

The conversation was then broken up by the sound of a laser blast hitting Je Lu squarely in the chest and knocking him back. His scream of pain and the sound of the weapon firing made the group stop and spread out. Shi La rushed after her wounded mate to make sure he was not seriously hurt, meanwhile, their attackers rose into the air on what appeared Yama and Yoshi as flying motorcycles. Each of these hover-cycles appeared to be armed with powerful laser rifles.

"In the name of the Illuminati Council you are all to surrender!" the lead Illuminati commando ordered.

"Vile murderers!" Demona roared and threw out two lightning spells at the closest hover-cycles to her.

Those two closest cycles then exploded in balls of flame and the group watched as their riders pulled out parachutes and slowly descended toward the Earth. The other Illuminati agents then attacked in full force sending the others diving for either cover or some means o get the drop their attackers.

"Get them off their hover-cycles," Demona ordered, "They can't pursue us if they're stuck on the ground."

While the battle began with the rest of the group, Shi Law caught Je Lu as the laser blast had thrown him back a fair distance from the rest of the battle. He still appeared to be breathing, but the laser blast had left a visible burn mark on his chest.

"Je Lu, Je Lu, are you alright?" Shi La asked as they descended to the ground, "Speak to me!"

Je Lu coughed somewhat as he then struggled to sit up.

"I'll be fine," Je Lu coughed out, "tomorrow."

This made Shi La look back up to watch the battle going on in the air. There, the Illuminati hover-cyclists tried to get a straight shot at Demona, but many of them found themselves under attack by one of the other gargoyles that were present. One was prepared to fire at Demona from the side when he was hit in the back of the head by the handle of a Japanese katana.

"Yama! You could have killed him!" Yoshi exclaimed as he came up beside the Japanese exile.

"I hit him with the handle," Yama answered as he resheathed his sword and took control of the hover-cycle, with the unconscious Illuminati agent in his lap, "He will not be harmed, at least not any more then necessary."

"Do you know how to fly that thing?" Yoshi asked.

"No, I was largely hoping to crash it," Yama answered.

Wedrington, meanwhile, banked right to avoid taking a hit from a pursuing hover-cycle. He had managed to get the Illuminati agent to stop shooting at Demona by physically pushing his hover-cycle, so that the shot would miss the immortal female, but in doing so, he earned someone who seemed quite eager to kill him instead. He was now leading the Illuminati agent through the trees in the hopes that he could get him to fly into a tree. Unfortunately, the spaces between the trees was also short enough that it was not easy for him to fit his wings in between those spaces. The hover-cycle pilot did not have that problem.

"Bloody cyclist," Wedrington growled as he cursed under his breath as the hover-cyclist strafed the treetops with laser fire.

The laser fire made him dive lower, in the hopes of at least forcing his pursuer to have to put up with dodging branches as well. They didn't stop him, but Wedrington found that they did finally slowed him down enough that he thought he could 'lose' his pursuer. He dove behind a tree in front of him, trying as much as possible to not rustle the leaves or branches with his wings. After a few moments the hover-cycle and its Illuminati driver appeared in the area between the two trees. Wedrington gasped that the man did not look to the side where he would easily see a white lion-like gargoyle trying to disappear into a spruce tree.

Wedrington then sighed and ignored the fact that his pursuer expected Wedrington to still be fleeing and rushed forward. He grabbed a hold of the Illuminati pilot and ended up falling with him to the ground, breaking every branch in the other spruce tree as they went down. They landed rather roughly, but it was the Illuminati agent who seemed to get the worst of it. As Wedrington began to pull himself up, he heard the Illuminati man groaning.

"Are you alright?" Wedrington asked.

"That's a funny question coming from a freak that's trying to take over the world," the Illuminati agent retorted.

"Even funnier retort from a man who works for an organization that secretly tries to rule the world," Wedrington answered back, "If you think you're so just, why not just have your Council reveal itself and have every government endorse it?"

"Our control is not as concrete as many of you 'rebels' like to think," the man responded, "Most of the time, we have to rely on a government's bureaucratic system to insure control… and even then, they may not know of the manipulation."

Wedrington wondered why the Illuminati man answered that way and decided it was some sort of intimidation tactic.

"Well, we are not out to rob you of your 'control'," Wedrington answered, "Someone attacked friends of ours, someone that poses a much greater threat to the world then just destroying one clan's home. We are going stop them and make the world safe."

"You make it sound like you're going to fight the Tibetan insurgents, despite the fact that we know you've ordered them to begin killing people in Tibet," the man practically snarled back.

"We have no connection to them," Wedrington insisted, "If you people would listen to reason, you'd know that."

With that, Wedrington kicked the Illuminati member, knocking him out and preventing him from trying to twist what Wedrington said any more. He then carried the unconscious man to leave him below the area where Demona was presently hovering. Demona meanwhile, was forced with several hover-cycle pilots trying to attack her from multiple sides. She watched intently as members of the Tibetan clan tried to drive them away.

The Tibetans were not completely successful at that, but they did succeed in distracting them long enough for Demona to take them out with lightning spells. The stunned riders fell unconscious and were caught by the various Tibetans. As the last of the Illuminati hover-cycle pilots was knocked out, Demona finally lowered her altitude to land on the ground.

"And this is why I say the Illuminati are our enemies as well," Demona snarled as they approached a pile of unconscious Illuminati agents.

"Marilyn must have really done something to deceive them then," one of the Tibetan gargoyles, named Gung-Ho commented, "They aren't the ones who are truly at fault."

"Maybe not," Wedrington commented as he arrived, "but they are fully convinced that we are leading the insurgency in Tibet."

"But we can't just go killing these people because Marilyn worked her deception of the Illuminati so well," Yama spoke, "If in truth they are merely deceived, they must be treated with honor."

"I agree with you," Wedrington nodded, "But these people did not seem to be interested in listening when I told them that we have nothing to do with the insurgents."

"We'll chain them up," Demona stated with a frustrated sigh, "The Illuminati will surely come looking for them, and if they know me at all, they'll have to rethink my involvement in this insurgency that troubles them."

"Meanwhile we must find Je Lu and Shi La," Yoshi commented, "These guys knocked Je Lu out when they arrived and Shi La went after him."

"We're here," came Shi La's voice from the sidelines as she came out from behind a series of bushes, carrying Je Lu in her arms, "Je Lu is hurt and can not glide for the rest of the night."

There was a series of frightened mumbling before Demona decided to take charge.

"Gather their hover-cycles," Demona answered, "They have to be stealth rigged or at least carry some sort of electronic scrambler. We'll need them."

"What for?" Wedrington asked curiously.

"I can use those 'hover-cycles of theirs to create a sort of stealth ship," Demona answered, "We'll sail to Asia."

"What about at dawn when we turn to stone?" a Tibetan female asked.

"We can stay in shallow water and drop anchor when it gets close to dawn," Yoshi commented, "although we would have to hope that the weather remains calm. I do not know what would happen if we were to run into a storm."

"We have no other choice," Yama commented, "If Je Lu is too injured to glide and the Illuminati will return after dawn for their defeated comrades here, we can not still be on the same island."

The group sighed and rushed to gather up the 'abandoned' hover-cycles or what was left of them.

**The Next Day**

"They're gone?" Two's image on a long range communicator growled.

"The gargoyles and the hover-cycles as well," an Illuminati agent reported, "It would seem that the ambush failed."

"We'll have to try again as soon as we can find them," Two sighed, "The real problem is that they stole our hover-cycles."

"We can always build more," the agent responded.

"At the cost of deliberately hurting Canada's economy, as the agents that participated in the ambush were all Canadian," Two reminded him.

"Be grateful that none were killed, sir," the agent informed the Council member.

"Yes," Two nodded, "Very unusual behavior for Demona. Her hatred of humanity would naturally drive her to kill any humans that would fight her, and considering that she ordered the escalation of the fighting in Tibet, it is doubly odd that she would not view herself at war with us."

"One of our agents reports that Demona's followers do not believe they are helping the insurgents," the agent reported.

"If that is true, then Demona has deceived her own kind, or enslaved them somehow," Two commented, "The Council will rethink these matters and consider sending a sorcerer to free those that Demona has enslaved.

**Tibet**

Khan patiently walked through an underground warehouse in the main Illuminati base that he had taken over, inspecting several vehicles that his men had captured and brought back. His second in command followed close behind with Marilyn flanking him.

"It will take time to repair the vehicles that our men damaged," his second in command informed him, "They are repairable, but it will take men and time."

"There is little raw Iron in them," Marilyn commented, "Why not use magic?"

"No, my dear, with the war with 'China' beginning to escalate, I believe you will be needed to deal with more direct threats to us, and I'm sure, Marilyn, that you will find dealing with them to be fairly amusing," Khan spoke up, "Order up another battalion created. Insure that they are knowledgeable on repairing all forms of military equipment."

"Of course, sir," Khan's second answered.

"Things are beginning to progress rapidly," Khan said with a smile, "Soon it will come time to 'pull the rug' out from underneath a sleeping world and arrogant organization."

**To Be Continued…**


	9. Explosion

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place four days after "Ambush".

Explosion

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Off Karaginskiy Island, Russia**

Demona and the rest of the group headed back to Tibet awakened to find the waters fairly quiet. She had used her powers over sorcery to turn the Illuminati's hover-sleds into a boat that could allow them to sail from western Canada to at least Asia. Their general plan was to eventually get to Japan, where Yama and Yoshi promised that their clan would provide them with supplies needed to drive the supermen out of Tibet, although Demona did not know for certain where to 'abandon' the boat that had been created to transport them.

Demona slowly made her way into the small cabin area that served as the ship's bridge. There was a small map of the pacific spread out across a table in the center of the room. Je Lu and Shi La followed her.

"Where are we?" Je Lu asked, "I'm most eager to get off of the ocean."

Demona nodded as she had quickly found that many of the Tibetan clan was not used to being on a large body of water and as a result they quickly became sea sick. Demona then consulted the map, as he had linked their location on the globe to her own powers. She then pointed to an island on the map that was near the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia.

"We appear to be about tell miles off of the island of Karaginskiy," Demona answered, "And this where a decision needs to be made. Yama and Yoshi want us to visit the Ishimuran Clan on our way to Tibet, which means we can not keep going in this boat for long. Japan has very little territory that we could sneak ashore, and aside from this island, the closest area in Russian territory would be the Kuril Islands, which we might reach by the time we get close to dawn tomorrow."

"We can land here," Je Lu spoke, "If we wait until we get to the Kuril Islands, the sun might rise and we'll end up sailing into Japan before the sun sets again."

Demona was about to nod when Yama came in rather quickly.

"What is it?" Demona asked.

"We have something coming up on us," Yama answered and pointed out the front windows.

Demona then looked out the window to see two warships moving toward them at high speed.

"What are they?" Shi La asked.

"Russian frigates," Demona answered, "Get everyone inside or below decks. The last thing they need to see are gargoyles."

Demona then moved to try and take their small ship back out to sea, as the last thing they needed was to get into a battle with the Russian navy. As the two frigates came closer, they heard a voice shout to them over a loud speaker from one of the Russian ships.

"Attention pirate vessel," the voice spoke over a loud speaker in Russian, "Stop immediately and surrender! We have been authorized to fire!"

"Pirate?!" Demona growled, "Pirate?!"

"They're just defending their country," Je Lu spoke.

"I am NOT a pirate," Demona growled and walked out of the room and out onto the deck.

The immortal female slowly walked out onto the bow of the small ship she had created and pointed her hands toward the two Russian warships. She then began chanting in Latin. Wedrington heard this activity and rushed to try and stop her, fearing she was attempting to murder the men on the ships trying to intercept them, and the Russian sailors were not impressed.

"We have authorization to fire," the voice screamed over the loudspeaker, "stop and surrender, NOW!"

Demona did not stop her chanting as a thick mist began to move in around the two Russian ships.

"What are you doing?" Wedrington demanded as he came up, "These are ordinary sailors. Unconnected to the Illuminati."

"You may relax," Demona answered, "I'm merely wrapping them in fog so that they can not see us. We will beach our ship and depart before they can fire on us."

They were interrupted by a loud boom and then watched three large geysers of water shot up around their small boat.

"The radars on modern ships allow them to fire without necessarily seeing the target they're firing at," Wedrington commented, "We're also lucky they didn't fire a missile."

"Can they detect us?" Demona asked.

"I would assume so," Wedrington answered.

Demona growled and then chanted something and vanished from sight.

"Demona?" Wedrington asked as he looked around, "Demona?"

He then turned and moved into the cabin where Je Lu and Shi La were trying to help Yama pilot the ship toward shore.

"We must go into the mist," Wedrington urged.

"But we won't see," Je Lu answered, "It is that thick, even our eyes can not see through it."

"We have to," Wedrington answered, "Demona's teleported onto one of those ships, and we can't allow her to kill anyone. Especially since they aren't connected to the supermen."

"They aren't?" Shi La asked.

"They're Russian," Wedrington answered, "Completely innocent."

Meanwhile, Demona appeared on the bridge of one of the Russian frigates. Her appearance frightened the men on the bridge and Demona quickly used that to her advantage. She turned and grabbed the nearest person she could find and lifted him into the air, her eyes glowing brightly.

"Don't eat me!" the man pleaded.

The fact that the man thought that she would eat him angered Demona, but she managed to hold her temper. She had promised Wedrington that she would change for the better. But these humans were preventing her from helping protect another clan of gargoyles. She wouldn't kill them, but she had no time for being polite.

"Where are your radar screens?" Demona demanded in a growling voice, hoping to use fear to get them to talk.

The man pointed toward them and Demona looked at them intently and then at the rest of the gathered crew. All of them had drawn weapons, but were too afraid to do anything while Demona had her hostage. She quickly decided not to let her advantage slip away and walked over to the radar screens and devices. She then smashed them with her talons. She then walked to a door that would lead her out of the ship.

"For your information, I am not a pirate," Demona growled, "And in the long run, my mission may in fact save you, but I do not have time to explain that."

Demona then chanted again, disappearing from view and dropping her hostage to the floor. One of the other officers immediately approached him.

"Are you alright, sir?" the officer asked.

"That is possibly the weirdest thing I've ever seen," the captain answered.

Back on the smaller boat, Wedrington, Yama, Je Lu, and Shi La all jumped when Demona suddenly appeared back on the bridge of their makeshift vessel. There were sounds of surprise coming from outside the small bridge as the other Tibetan gargoyles had also gathered to see what was going on since Demona had called in the fog and then vanished.

"What did you do?" Wedrington demanded quickly.

"I took out their radar," Demona answered, "Do not worry, no one was harmed and their ships are easily repairable, but they can not track us for the time being, which will allow us to continue on our way."

"You promise you didn't kill anyone?" Wedrington asked.

"I promise," Demona answered, knowing that Wedrington was trying to make sure she stayed on the straight and narrow, even though she didn't like the supervision, "You needn't worry about me. Now, we must beach the ship before the fog spell wears off."

**Unknown Location**

The Illuminati quietly sat around their council. Three had just returned from a brief mission to New York and seemed greatly upset by the results, which had resulted in an emergency meeting as a result.

"I hope you have a good reason for this," Four grumbled.

"I do," Three answered, "It has to do with the situation in Tibet and the believed gargoyle connection to it."

"We know of the gargoyle connection," Five grumbled, "Demona is behind it."

"Demona may be involved in it, but she is not the originator of the problems in Tibet," Three answered, "What I learned in New York proves that the insurrection is much closer then many of us care to admit."

"What do you mean?" One asked, beginning to sound nervous, "Are you saying this is a rebellion within the Illuminati Society?"

"Impossible," Six commented, "We would have known about it before it began."

"Not if everyone in the facility where the insurrection began is in league with the leader of the rebellion," Three answered, "We know about internal descent because it has come up in places where a rebel has spoken to a loyal member without knowing it. The rebellion against us in Tibet has come from people who are all allied together."

"What is the origin of the Rebellion then?" Two asked, curious, "And how did you learn of it?"

"You do understand the problems we have faced since our Tibet facility was overrun, and not just the rebellion in Tibet?" Three asked.

"Yes," Four commented, "Every scientist we've found or hired to run the facility has been murdered. We do not know how the rebels have managed to track them all."

"That is because they've used our technology to track them all," Three said in a voice that showed that he was serious in his warning, "Our New York candidate survived the attempt and his assassins have been captured."

"And how is this bad?" Five demanded, "You report this as if it's a bad thing! Maybe you are leading this rebellion."

"What happened in New York?" One asked.

"The assassins found our man first, before he could leave for Tibet," Three explained, "Thankfully the chance actions of a friend of his saved him from being killed by the assassins."

The other council members nodded and waited for Three to continue.

"Their actions attracted New York's gargoyle population to the situation," Three continued.

"Probably to finish the job," Four grumbled.

"That is what I thought as well, initially," Three replied, "but the problems was, a human team of assassins attempted to kill him. NOT the gargoyles, who defeated the assassins."

"The gargoyles stopped the assassins?" Two asked.

"Yes," Three nodded, "Which allowed Duval's men to take him prisoner. We began with the standard interrogation method…"

"How could you tell if they were telling the truth?" Six questioned.

"Duval had them hooked up to our latest lie detectors," Three answered with a sigh, "We would have known if they only said something that was true by only a technicality."

"Did they say who they were working for?" Two asked.

Three nodded, "Yes. They're working for Khan."

"Who?" One asked as a surprised silence fell over the room.

"Khan," Three answered, "The man we created to help us enforce our polices. He is the one who orchestrated the 'attack' on our facility in Tibet, and is probably the one behind the violence in Tibet and China at present."

"But Demona, the gargoyles?" Five asked.

"If he is behind all this, I'm sure what we've seen is what he wanted us to see," Three reminded them, "Remember we gave him and his followers a naturally high intelligence."

"Are you sure about this?" Two asked, "We also placed programmed genes that made them loyal to us. Khan shouldn't want to be disloyal."

"We also did blood tests," Three answered, "The two assassins were our supermen and they had sworn fealty to Khan. How he broke his programming is unknown at this time, and considering what he has done, focusing on that is a bit too late."

"But why would he betray us?" Four asked, not believing any of this, "We provided him with everything one could want."

"Except his own freedom," Three sighed, "Which may be what he in fact wants. We can't allow him that freedom, but that may be what he wants."

One then sat back heavily in his chair and sighed heavily.

"What can we do?" One asked.

"Aside from destroying the Tibet facility and preventing Khan from raising an army, we need to see what access he has to our systems and files," Four commented, "Make sure he hasn't leaked our existence out already."

"He's had access to all of our technology," Three answered, "How else do you think he's managed to hunt down the replacements for the Tibet base? He used our data files to find them."

"Can we block his access to them?" Two asked.

"I don't know," One commented, "If Three is right and Khan is behind it all, we might not be able to construct a firewall that can block him, and the most direct route is out of the question."

"What is?" Five questioned, "We could potentially have a major challenger for power out there fighting a war against us."

"If Khan is behind this, he apparently does not the world to know of our existence," One replied, "if he did, he would have done so already. The chaos that would have caused would have brought us to our knees, but the same tactic could potentially be used against him."

"Reveal who Khan is?" Three asked.

"Yes," One nodded, "Let Tibet know who their 'liberator' is. Show that he is nothing but a genetic engineered freak of nature who sees himself as superior, and all the 'free Tibet' people will back away from him."

"That is if he survives a strike on 'his' base," Five commented, "We must strike him there. Show him that we know what he is up to and his scheme will not go unpunished."

"We can not risk our own equipment," Two commented, "The Chinese are bound to see it and might fire on it by accident."

"We can hire their air force to do the job," Five spoke, "With Khan gone, the rebellion will end, and we can finally resume normal operations in Tibet."

Three looked on with a frustrated look on his face. Things were moving quickly, and he was beginning to wonder if the Illuminati's 'normal' operations could ever be regained anywhere.

**Beijing, China**

"They have a FORTRESS?" a Chinese political leader gasped in surprise as a pair of military officers showed him a series of aerial photographs.

"Yes," one of the officers answered, "These attacks have become dangerous enough that it was felt that we felt that our efforts need to be stepped up. We sent several recon planes over the region, and one returned with that series of photographs. We can pinpoint its location on a map, if you wish."

The political leader nodded, "It is not the scouting that you have executed that is the problem. It's the fact that this is the first we've ever heard of this fortress. I mean planes flying from here to India will fly over Tibet. Surely one of them saw this fortress in its construction."

"There doesn't appear to be any direct route over this fortress," the other officer answered, "It is very possible that no one saw this fortress as no plane flew directly over it."

"What can you do rid the people of this problem?" the political leader asked.

"We have garrisons in Tibet and we are reinforcing them," the first officer answered, "I've already ordered a massive force to surround the position and advance on this fortress."

"How long will that take?" the political leader asked.

"We've also launched a series of air strikes to be launched against the fortress," the other officer answered, "If all goes well, we should be able to capture this fortress in a few days. Hopefully we capture the leader of the insurrection there before it spreads beyond Tibet's borders."

"Very well," the political leader sighed, "Let me know when these actions have finished and that we have captured the fortress."

"Of course, sir," the two officers saluted.

**Tibet, The Next Day**

It was early in the morning, just after the dawn of the day when two Xian H-6 (Tu-16) 'Badgers' flew low over the Chinese province of Tibet. They were escorted by four CAC J-7 (F-7)s which also flew in pairs. Two of ground attack fighters flew ahead with air to air missiles to make sure that no fighter opposed them while the other two flew above and behind the 'Badgers' and were armed with bombs to be dropped after China's strategic bombers dropped their bomb load on the targeted fortress.

"Is the fortress radar equipped?" one of the fighter pilots asked over the radio to one of the 'Badger' pilots.

"We must assume so," the 'Badger' answered, "Thankfully, the fortress did not appear to have any anti-aircraft weaponry. They may detect us, but they can not shoot us down."

"That's a relief," the other fighter pilot commented, "And they don't appear to have any aircraft, at least we haven't picked up any on radar. We are half an hour out of our target, if what you've said about their defenses is true, then we'll flatten that fortress and be back at the base safe and sound."

Meanwhile, inside the fortress Khan watched the six blips on a radar screen coming closer to his fortress.

"How far away will they be when they begin dropping their ordinance?" Khan asked, "Our air defenses aren't fully installed yet, and this base can not be destroyed."

"You're certain they're coming after us?" Khan's second in command asked.

"They are on a path that will take them directly over our base, and more importantly this is the first time that such an attack has been mounted," Khan answered, "They are on their way here."

"But why…?" Khan's second began to ask.

"The why is unimportant," Marilyn growled, "the point is, they're coming, and if your technology isn't ready, the I suppose I am the only one who is ready."

Khan and his second in command then turned to see Marilyn vanish from the room in a flash of green light.

"Now, this could be interesting," Khan commented.

Marilyn reappeared floating in mid air in the path of the approaching aircraft. She assumed the pilots could see her, but she thought that was needed. The idea of seeing a woman in commando gear simply float in mid air should confuse them allowing her to do what was needed. Pointing to one of the two Chinese fighters, she focused entirely on the pilot of that fighter, and after chanting a short spell, the pilot was suddenly teleported out of the cockpit of his fighter, and reappeared directly behind the plane's afterburner. He screamed as he was quite literally cooked.

Marilyn then performed another teleportation spell and appeared inside the cockpit of the fighter that she had just removed its pilot from. She heard the Chinese pilots screaming for their lost comrades and it made Marilyn laugh. She then activated her plane's radio.

"Good morning gentlemen, my name is Marilyn and I will be your executioner today," Marilyn spoke with a laugh and pulled the fighter she had commandeered into a tight turn and slowed it down enough that the other advance fighter was right in front of her.

Marilyn shot down the other escorting fighter with a burst of gunfire, although her turn jammed her plane's guns and made it impossible for her to use it on the other aircraft, but with her occupying one of the four fighters, and one shot down, she didn't need the plane's guns necessarily. What she did need was her magic, as she was not experienced in piloting fighters and against four trained pilots, she might manage to escape, but that would mean allowing the base to be destroyed, without which neither she or Khan could conquer the world, and she couldn't allow that. Not just because she shared Khan's goals of conquest, but she respected Khan's abilities as a commander. She didn't want to see him dead.

Turning to use a basic mind control spell she aimed it on the other two fighter pilots as she silently chanted. She couldn't sense any magical talent in any of the pilots and smiled that she could use those spells over and over with relative ease, but she wasn't sure if they had the room to house thousands of prisoners under mind control, or is she had the ability to control that many people, as at present, she was nearing her limit as she took control of the minds of the other two fighter pilots.

Marilyn then smiled as the other two fighter pilots followed her mental command and deliberately turned toward each other and crashed in midair without either pilot trying to get out. That left Marilyn to deal with the two 'Badger' bombers, which had turned and were trying to escape from the area as quickly as possible.

"You can not escape me," Marilyn spoke into the radio and turned her captured fighter around and began to target one of the two fleeing bombers.

Pursing the fleeing bomber, Marilyn quickly found that the fighter she had captured was easily faster then the larger plane, and she was forced to slow down to allow her plane's missiles to lock on to the bomber. After a moment or two, she heard a beeping noise, indicating that the missile had locked on, and she fired. She then smiled as a missile flew out and his the bomber's engine, destroying the aircraft. Marilyn ignored it to now chase after the other bomber before it could too far away, and she destroyed that bomber in much the same way she had destroyed the first. Once that was done, she set her captured fighter into a steep dive and teleported out. Once she rematerialized on the ground, she watched the plane crash into a nearby mountain and then moved to return to Khan's base.

**Khan's Base, half an hour later**

Khan was waiting for Marilyn as she arrived.

"Good flight?" Khan asked.

"Interesting," Marilyn answered with a smile, "We will have to make more of those planes when China is ours."

Khan nodded, "I would have preferred if you could have saved the fighter that you confiscated, but then until we can either capture an airfield or land suitable for building an airfield, we can not do anything with planes. Maybe some helicopters, but not panes."

Marilyn slowly nodded, "My powers will be more then adequate to protect the base until we have the strength to defend it otherwise. Although, you may want to have your troops ready, I noticed there was at least a division's worth of infantry on their way here, although they were moving very slowly. With the loss of their aircraft, they might have even turned back."

Khan nodded, "I'll even arrange for some of our guerilla units to strike at their flanks if they're entirely infantry."

The two then walked inside the base and moved toward a conference room where Khan's second and a few other officers were waiting.

"We are ready for the meeting," Khan's second reported.

"Good," Khan answered, and took his seat at the head of the table and then began to speak, "My friends, the time has come that we take our war directly to the Chinese and the Illuminati inside China. It has come sooner then intended, but we have no choice at this time."

"No choice?" an officer asked.

"Those aircraft where headed here," Khan answered, "China could not have found us without the Illuminati telling them where we are."

"Then the Illuminati know that we are the 'rebels'," another officer spoke.

"Yes," Khan nodded, "with our facilities and growing support among the Tibetans, we can defeat the Chinese infantry, and with Marilyn, China's technology will find itself at a disadvantage or at least in an uphill fight."

"We will need to increase our production of supermen," one officer commented, "to insure that we have powerful numbers."

"Also insure that half are female," Khan ordered, "It will give our people the ability populate our kingdom on our own without using science."

The others nodded.

**Unknown Location**

One sat quietly inside his own office when a secretary came rushing in. He looked up, somewhat surprised at the intrusion, but not upset, as when these sorts of things happened, something 'big' was happening that required his attention.

"Sir, you have someone on the communications screen for you," the secretary reported, "He seemed very insistent on talking with you."

"Is he Illuminati, or just some high tech nut who happened to get lucky?" One asked.

"I do not know, sir," the secretary told him.

One sighed and got up, "Very well. Tell them I'm on my way. If anyone else from the Council stops by, let them know I'm in the interrogation room."

When he arrived at the communications center he was greeted by a face that took him completely by surprise. It was Khan himself.

"You!" One gasped in surprise.

"Yes, me," Khan smiled, "How have you been."

"You've caused all our troubles!" One accused.

"Your most recent ones yes, but in a way, one could say you brought them on yourselves," Khan replied, "Playing 'god' and so forth."

One didn't answer.

"I'm going to assume that you've finally learned the truth about the rebellion in Tibet," Khan commented, "You've all created great interest among my men considering your stupidity."

One only growled at the screen.

"Although I must say, I am curious," Khan commented, "Exactly how did you learn that it was I who was behind everything in Tibet?"

"Manhattan's gargoyles saved the life of the man we intended to send to Tibet to take command of the facility you've overrun," One answered.

"Gargoyles," Khan smiled, "such noble creatures. A pity the Illuminati has done as much as it could to destroy every gargoyle clan it could find."

"We…" One began to protest.

"Sure," Khan smiled, "Casting spells to insure the Roman 'Order' would fall victim to the Plague epidemics of the late middle ages and renaissance. Secretly urging the Vikings to raid northern Scotland in the hopes that they would destroy the gargoyle population there. Flaming hatred of gargoyles among the Saxons so that when they conquered the British isles they destroyed every gargoyle they could find. I have read all your files on how the Illuminati Society has 'dealt' with gargoyles. You may not have directly pulled the trigger, but you did influence the men who pulled the trigger, and now they are the only ones who might be able to stop me. A pity for you really, since you've made yourselves to be such enemies of them."

"We will stop you," One growled.

"How?" Khan answered, "My struggle is in China, and the Chinese are outclassed, and considering how many 'free Tibet' signs I've seen on your 'internet' I would assume that most of the world will actually support me. Unless I invade another country, you can't turn this into an international war and the only way you can 'win' is by revealing your own activities within China, which I'm sure you don't want to do."

One only growled again.

"This is a declaration of war, Illuminati Council member One," Khan spoke, "A war for the fate of China. Should I win, China is mine. Should I lose… well… I guess that would mean it is back to 'business as usual' for you, wouldn't it?"

**To Be Continued…**


	10. A Brighter Future and a Darker Night

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place one day after "Explosion".

A Brighter Future and a Darker Night

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Unknown Location**

Three stood alone watching a news program reporting on the situation in the far east. Things were not looking well for the Illuminati and anyone that they backed, and in fact, the failure of one of their plans was now causing them even more trouble.

"Tensions continue to rise between Japan and Russia over a Russian frigate that was collected by the Japanese Maritime Patrol forces found the Russian warship adrift inside Japanese waters off of Hokkaido," the news reporter announced, "Russia has accused Japan of piracy and is threatening military action if the ship and its technology is not returned."

The reporter paused for a moment and sighed before continuing.

"Japan has claimed the ship was found abandoned and could not explain how a Russian warship could end up abandoned inside Japanese waters," the reporter continued.

"Demona continue to prove to be a difficult adversary," Four commented as the other Illuminati Council member entered the room to stand beside Three.

"Yes, but she is no longer our primary concern," Three answered, "Khan's betrayal has seen to that, and we have yet to stop him or even understand how he was able to betray us. Demona is only a minor concern now, and all we really need to do with her is question her about her possible involvement."

"Khan has to have a sorceress to do his bidding," Four commented, "but we left him with no DNA that could be used to produce a sorceress powerful enough to do what we now know that he has done. That means he has to have gone beyond Tibet and recruited in the outside world. Demona would be a good potential choice for a 'magical' agent."

"Unlikely given her hatred of humanity," Three shook that off, "I agree that Khan had to have gone beyond Tibet to get a sorceress, but it wasn't Demona. The real problem is that that sorceress has stopped every attempt we've made to have China bomb our Tibet instillation to rubble."

"Then who do you suppose this sorceress could be?" Four questioned.

"Knowing who she is, is probably irrelevant," Three answered, "I think we will have to send our own sorcerers there to deal with her."

"What about China's army?" Four asked, "couldn't we overwhelm her with them?"

"We might be able to stop their movement, but I'd think that they would manage to escape," Three said with a sigh, "we need to be able to contain Khan and make sure he doesn't escape."

**Ishimura, Japan**

"Why are we coming here?" Demona asked as the group began to lower its gliding altitude over a relatively small village.

"We will need supplies to fight these supermen in Tibet, and I would suspect that getting into China will not be any easy task in itself," Yoshi answered, "Kai and the Japanese clan would surely give us some stocks of food, and possibly weapons to defeat the supermen."

"We could gather what we need rather easily," Demona answered.

"Once we get to the supermen and their base we may not be able to hunt for game," Je Lu commented, "Getting supplies in Ishimura is probably a good idea."

"I could conjure up food and supplies," Demona spoke, "we wouldn't even have t deal with the humans that run the countries between here and China's Tibetan province."

"There is nothing wrong with humans," Yama answered firmly, "The Ishimuran clan has protected Ishimura going back to Japan's feudal period, long before the modern era. They fought along side Japanese pilots in World War Two when the American fire bombers came. They protect Ishimura from criminals much the way Goliath's clan protects New York."

Demona only sighed.

"It has not been in my experience that gargoyles can trust humans," Demona answered, "Most of the humans who could be trusted… have been turned INTO gargoyles, themselves."

"Now is not the time for an argument," Wedrington spoke up, hoping to keep a full fledged fight from breaking out, "even if we are not to gain supplies in Ishimura, it might still be a good idea to stop there. Remember that large TV in Tokyo. Russia and Japan are still arguing over the frigate you commandeered. It might be a good idea to let that whole issue cool down before we risk drawing attention to ourselves."

Demona slowly nodded. She knew who to blame for the current argument between the two countries, and given what had happened after the Hunters Moon in New York years ago, she doubted that people would be entirely supportive of gargoyles if some reporter came up with a story that it was gargoyles who stole the frigate. She didn't have time to deal with that and defeat the supermen at the same time.

"You're right," Demona sighed, "I suppose resting in Ishimura might not be a bad idea, as once we leave Japan, we'll be on 'enemy' territory and will need to be on our guard."

"Of course," Shi La nodded in agreement.

They found Kai and Ishimura's police chief waiting for them as they arrived at he temple that the Ishimuran clan lived in. Demona was immediately nervous by the man's presence, but decided to remain quiet for the time being. They landed and Yama and Yoshi immediately bowed respectfully to Kai.

"You've returned," Kai spoke as Yama and Yoshi approached.

"Only to gain supplies for what will probably be a long campaign to deal with the supermen in Tibet," Yama answered, and then gestured to Demona and Wedrington, "and we were also successful in getting one who can help us. May I introduce you to the gargoyle sorceress, Demona. The lion-like gargoyle is her companion, Wedrington."

"It is a pleasure to meet other members of Goliath's clan," Kai spoke, "this is my clan's friend and Ishimura's chief constable."

"A pleasure to meet you," the man spoke with a polite bow, "You are free to travel around Ishimura until you leave for Tibet."

"What of the people?" Wedrington asked, "Not all gargoyles have been well received by the human population."

"The people of Ishimura have lived along side us for years," Kai spoke, "only those living outside the village do not know of us. We have worked to keep it secret for years."

"And that is where my mistakes have forced me to search for a way to restore my honor," Yama added.

"And humans have never betrayed you?" Demona questioned suspiciously.

"Not in any way like what Goliath's clan endured," Kai answered, "and that incident was with a lone and corrupt fool, who has not been seen anywhere since."

"It was a 'friend' seeking to exploit and profit off us," Yama added, "I thought he was doing something that would allow us to teach to the world and reveal ourselves to the world in a way that would not create things like the 'Quarrymen', which we've seen on the news. And I was sadly, duped. Which is why I'm with you now."

"It still seems that there are times when humans can not be trusted," Demona commented.

"Taro was dishonorable," the man spoke firmly, "the villagers are not, and Kai and his clan can trust us."

"And suppose Taro returns or another like him appears?" Demona questioned.

"That is always a risk," Kai answered, "but Goliath and his friends stopped Taro, and the villagers have reinvigorated their efforts to learn bushido and work with my clan. We have had students for the first time in years."

"I would never let those who would do Kai and his clan harm the opportunity to do so," the man added, "Ishimura is the best policed city in Japan thanks to his clan, and knows the most about honor because of his clan."

Demona then respectfully nodded, "I apologize if I have said something that angers you, but I have not had pleasant memories of dealing with humans."

"Then enjoy Ishimura," Kai offered, "as a break from the frustrations of the past."

Demona then looked out over the village from their position. The village was small compared to New York, but it was quiet, and it seemed to feel peaceful. That warranted some investigation.

"I suppose I shall," Demona answered, "See if there are spots where gargoyles can hope not to be hunted."

"Take your time," Kai answered her and then watched as Demona and Wedrington took off into the air again and glided off. He then turned to Yama and Yoshi, "I will say again brother that I and the clan do not hold you to this."

"I do," Yama answered, "I can not live with myself knowing I have not atoned for my misdeeds."

"Sora misses you," Kai reminded him.

Yama looked down and sighed, "I miss her as well, but this is something I must do."

"Kai," Yoshi spoke, "while a member of what is called the third race granted Yama, myself, and Je Lu's clan the ability to understand western languages, as well as each other, I too wish to continue on their journey. It may be beyond Ishimura, and probably bigger then I can handle, but it would make a good story to place in the library once it is over. And besides, we may run into Chinese persons who were not effected by the spell."

Kai nodded, "Of course. We'll see to getting whatever supplies are needed."

**Lhasa, Tibet**

Tibet was rapidly becoming a 'hell on Earth' for Chinese soldiers. The insurgents continued to hit Chinese military forces at will and then disappeared into the mountains. The military now had the location of their main fortress, but all attempts bomb it to rubble had failed, and here weren't yet enough troops in the region to consider either isolating the place or storming it.

At the same time, tensions were between the Chinese and many of the people of Tibet were getting worse. Monks protested the lack of religious freedom, and many of the other people disliked the occupation of Tibet by military forces, and the army's best efforts to show that they were defending Tibet were being ignored completely. Several people had already been killed as a result of rioting in various villages.

The present Chinese General in charge of the Tibet occupation was at a loss for how to deal with the situation. The easy answer would be to slaughter everyone who dared raise even a hand against the government, but it wasn't the right answer, and would only antagonize China' s position, particularly with the US, which was buying Chinese goods in ever increasing numbers. He needed to do more to get the people of Tibet behind the government to insure that the number of people killed was kept as low as possible.

Of course the 'Free Tibet' people were still an annoyance, but they could easily be kept OUT of the province. These insurgents had sprung up from within Tibet's population. They would be difficult to control.

The general was about to get up and go to get some reports from the field units that were desperately trying to trap the insurgents in their stronghold when the door to his office suddenly blew off its hinges and knocked him to the ground.

"Ah, General Chung," a voice spoke from outside his office, "good to see I have caught you a good time."

The general, Chung, managed to wrestle the door off of him and looked up to see a woman in commando gear floating in the air where the door had been. He was shocked beyond belief, and did not even notice the large book-bag she was carrying. Marilyn only laughed at his shock and surprise.

"This, I'm sure will be a real blast," Marilyn said with a smile…

Outside, a couple of young junior officers approached the building, when it was suddenly consumed in a violent explosion which knocked them off their feet.

**Ishimura, Japan**

Demona and Wedrington glided rather quietly over the village that Yoshi and Yama had lead them to. Wedrington was very curious about everything, especially about the fact that the people of Ishimura were supposed to be friends with the gargoyle clan there. Demona, however, was far more suspicious, and she was looking more for a reason for Kai's clan to shun the humans then anything else. She had agreed not to wipe out humanity, but her own past and her own opinions still kept her likely to distrust humans.

"The village seems nice," Wedrington commented as they continued on.

"Architecturally," Demona agreed, "and this place does seem to have an aura of peace to it that I can't explain."

"Maybe it's a sign that gargoyles and humans can get along together," Wedrington pointed out, "I'm sure people have seen us, and there are no crowds of people chasing with pitchforks."

"Always an optimist," Demona sighed, "but I suppose. There is much that still needs to be seen. Many people have seen Goliath, and he is probably the most pro-human non-transformed gargoyle around, and most of them joined groups like the Quarrymen or at least supported them. Simply seeing us doesn't mean that they support us."

"We'd have to get closer to them then," Wedrington commented.

"What?" Demona asked.

"You can understand Japanese through your powers as sorceress, correct?" Wedrington asked.

Demona nodded.

"Then perhaps we should land and talk to one of the villagers," Wedrington spoke, "we won't know the truth of their behavior by just gliding through the air above the village."

Demona only sighed at that and then slowly nodded, sensing that this was an argument she couldn't win.

"I suppose you're right," Demona sighed, "It's just that I have never had good relations with humans. They've either hunted me, or I've hunted them."

"Always time to turn it around," Wedrington said encouragingly, "very few people in history have been truly irredeemable."

Demona was silent in her answer and let Wedrington take the lead as they rounded a series of buildings and began to come in for a landing in front of an elderly woman walking with a child. Both seemed somewhat surprised to see two gargoyles land in front of them, but neither screamed or attempted to flee.

"Is something wrong?" the elderly woman asked.

"No, madam," Demona answered, trying to sound as polite as possible, "we are not members of Kai's clan. We are visitors to your village."

"Welcome to Ishimura," the elderly woman then spoke, "I am Kari and this is my grandchild, Karai. Is there something you require?"

"Information," Demona answered firmly, "Where I am from, humans largely have not treated gargoyles well. I am trying to check to make sure that Kai's clan is not equally threatened."

"Your clan is threatened?" the child, Karai asked.

"My clan is simply small in numbers," Demona answered, deciding to keep the fact that her 'clan' was really herself and Wedrington and that she had been exiled from her former clan, "no human is a true threat to us, but we are still not well received. We do not live with the humans where we live."

"That is quite sad," Kari spoke, "You will not find that here. Kai's clan has lived side by side with us for generations. Kai and I grew up together."

"And no one has betrayed him?" Demona asked.

"Maybe one or two dishonorable ones," Kari answered, "but Ishimura as a village has always respected Kai and his clan. Hopefully in time the people where you live learn to live under one roof with your clan."

Demona didn't know how to answer that. The grandmother, Kari, had paid Kai's clan a great deal of respect, which was something she had not heard in a great many years. It could be a lie, but considering the aura she was receiving from the village itself, she gave into the hope that things could get better.

"You sound very optimistic," Demona spoke, "but also quite kind."

"Thank you," Kari answered politely.

"Are you a princess?" the girl, Karai, then asked curiously, but also unexpectedly.

"What?" Demona asked back.

"You have a crown," Karai said, pointing, "like what princesses do on cartoons."

Demona then looked up at the tiara that had been made to mimic her browridge. She wore it largely to keep her hair out of her eyes and she guessed that to a certain degree, also for fashion, but she never considered herself royalty. At one time she wanted ultimate power over the world, but she would have been called a dictator or tyrant, not what the young girl had addressed her as.

"Karai, it is none of our business," Kari scolded, "I'm sorry if she's offended you."

"I do not mind," Demona told her and turned to Karai, "No I am not a princess. I've known one before, but I am not one. I just have a good eye for jewelry."

Karai only smiled at that, but yawned soon after.

"And I'm afraid we must be going," Kari spoke, "It is her bedtime and we've both had a long day. It was good to speak with you."

Demona then stepped aside and let the two continue on. Both she and Wedrington watched them walk off until they rounded a corner and disappeared from view.

"Well, that went quite well," Wedrington commented, "She was obviously pro-gargoyle."

"Yes," Demona nodded, "a vast improvement from New York."

"And the girl was very sweet," Wedrington commented.

"Yes," Demona answered simply, "I would guess that Kai's clan is in no real danger of destruction, at least not at the moment."

"Goes to show that gargoyles can get along with humans," Wedrington told her.

Demona only nodded.

**Tibet**

Marilyn made her way into the situation room where Khan, his second in command, and a few other supermen leaders were looking over a holographic map of China.

"We have enough men to hold an area of ten square miles centered on this facility," one of his field commanders spoke, "with various young Tibetans recruited, we might be able to expand that zone to twelve square miles. We do not have the equipment or the supplies to do more then just make hit and run attacks on Chinese units."

"We will in time if we keep appropriating Chinese technology," another officer spoke.

"That will take too much time, and the Chinese will easily replace the equipment we steal," Khan cut him off, "The Illuminati already know that we are behind the uprising. We must subdue China quickly. The time for hit and run and hiding has passed."

"And do we have a plan for defeating several million Chinese?" the first field commander asked.

"We do now," Marilyn spoke up holding up her pack.

"Ah, Marilyn, you're back," Khan smiled, "Did you acquire their codes?"

Marilyn tossed her back onto the table and smiled.

"It's full of all the station numbers, radio frequencies, and phone lines and all other codes for various lines of communication within China," Marilyn answered, "You now have all that you will need to talk to all the people of China in one fell swoop."

"You're going to reveal to them that the Illuminati exist?" a field commander asked.

"And give them the codes to hack into the Illuminati's network," Khan nodded, "It will through the entire Chinese population into chaos, because while many of them may be part of the Illuminati, they can not all be Illuminati members."

"Counting on the Chinese sending large numbers of troops to rest of China?" Khan's second asked.

"And portions of the Chinese army joining the rebellion, which we will take advantage of," Khan answered with a nod, "The Illuminati have spent so much time living in the shadows, that when the people see what is there, the Illuminati will find maintaining global control much more difficult."

"Should be interesting to watch," the first field commander smiled confidently.

"It gets better," Marilyn spoke up again, "I also blew up their military headquarters in Tibet. Their military command in the region is now going to be in utter chaos. You can step up your raids for equipment and strikes on Chinese attempts to surround us."

"You killed the local commander while on your mission?" Khan asked in surprise, as he had not specifically ordered that anyone was to be killed.

"I didn't think it would hurt our position," Marilyn shrugged, "It would cause general chaos and make our job easier for awhile."

"Of course," Khan answered with a smile and turned to his field commanders and ordered, "Have your men begin launching raid strikes to get more Chinese tanks and equipment. Wipe out any infantry patrols that get in your way, but don't over extend yourselves. Make sure you can easily get back here."

"Of course, sir!" they answered in unison.

**Beijing, China**

China's military headquarters was extremely busy as dawn rose over the buildings that made up China's capital. The commanders of China's military forces were extremely frustrated by events that had occurred the night before. The military commander in Tibet was dead, along a large portion of his staff. His headquarters was destroyed as well. What followed was a series of raids on positions ranging from ten to fifteen miles from the believed insurgent base. The result of these attacks left nearly one hundred men dead, more then twice that wounded, and all of their equipment either taken or damaged beyond repair.

"General Wu is taking over the Tibet operations as an interim commander," a delegate from Tibet spoke to a council of generals and the leaders of China's government, "He has requested orders."

"Finding a suitable replacement will take a relatively long time," General of the Army Zhou spoke carefully, "for now, he is to continue with the original plan of trying to isolate the insurgents and pin them in. We can not allow them to escape."

"He is reporting that many Tibetans are becoming rather supportive of the insurgents," the Tibet command delegate spoke.

"Wu knows the protocol if they raise arms against us," a different general spoke, "Kill all those who directly resist and arrest the families."

The delegate nodded.

"Shouldn't we do more?" China's premier spoke up, "this has been going on for a while now and we've maintained the same plan since it started, and frankly, we have not made any progress in stopping this insurgency."

"We can send another division or two to the area," General Zhou spoke, "but it is the army's position that until they meet us in a direct battle, flooding the region with troops could create a bottleneck and we would lose our freedom of movement, especially in the mountainous terrain of Tibet."

"Can you at least strengthen our positions outside Tibet?" the Premier questioned, "to prevent this rebellion from spreading beyond Tibet?"

The generals then shared a series of glances and soon nodded.

"That is possible," General Zhou spoke, "Is that all you want?"

"If that is the wisest course of action," the Premier answered.

They were about to break the meeting when a man in a suit rushed into the room and approached the Premier with a nervous look in his eye.

"Premier, you must see the news now!" the man said urgently, "It's extremely important."

The Premier glanced at the others and sighed heavily and reached for a television remote that sat on a nearby stand and aimed it at a television in a nearby corner. When the screen came on, it showed the image of a man's face with rather dark hair framing it.

"He's announced he's the leader of the insurgency," the man who had rushed in reported.

"People of China," the man spoke, "as I am sure you are all concerned about the fighting going on in Tibet and you should be, but I feel that I must reveal the true nature of the conflict to you."

"What is he talking about?" a lower ranking general asked.

"My conflict does not come from any hatred for China or entirely a desire to separate Tibet and China," the man continued, "the two can exist as one state and coexist quite well together, so long the right decisions are made, but there are forces that have turned the great people of China into instruments of terror and oppression."

"He's trying to raise an anti-communist revolution!" the Premier spoke with some horror in his voice, "just as the Nationalists did."

"Do not blame the people of China, for that force is not even in China, at least not that anyone can easily see," the man continued, "That force, is called the Illuminati. A secret organization that has secretly ruled China for hundreds of years and continue to do so to this day. They have manipulated everything that China has done, from the long march to the civil war to its present attempts to mix a communist dictatorship with a capitalist economy. And their leaders are not even Chinese. Chinese Premiers and generals have served foreigners for years, but you may not know this because the Illuminati like to keep themselves hidden."

The men stood silently watching as the man continued speaking while the Illuminati's insignia appeared on the screen.

"My goal is to create a new China," the man announced, "One that is not corrupted by these foreign 'phantoms' who rarely have China's best interests at heart. A China that governs itself. That lives in peace and prosperity with its neighbors and is strong because it is China, not because the Illuminati has willed it."

"The man is insane," General Zhou spoke in disbelief.

"For those who won't believe me, check your computers under the password 666isplaned and you'll be in the Illuminati's network," the man spoke, "It will give you a list of every person who is either directly a member of the Illuminati or is influenced by their policies. It will take them weeks to change their passwords and remove all the bugs I've already thrown into their system."

And with that the broadcast ended.

"What do we do?" General Zhou asked.

"We ignore it," the Premier answered, "He's a raving lunatic."

"But what if he's right?" a different general asked.

"Right, that some secret society as been controlling China?" the Premier questioned, "I think you've been watching too much Japanese or American television."

"What if people check their computers with that code he mentioned?" Zhou asked, "It could reveal the truth behind this thing."

"We can monitor that," the Premier answered, "We do not need to panic."

The generals were quiet for a moment and the Premier sighed.

"Not for the moment anyway," the Premier then thought to himself.

**Illuminati Headquarters, Unknown Location**

"Did you see his broadcast?" Two demanded.

"No sir," a technician answered, "I just only managed to read the report from the Chinese representatives there that did see it."

"And what is happening?" Two asked.

"Not much at the moment," the technician answered nervously, "They're saying that it's all too soon to tell."

"We need to get sorcerers of our own there now," Two grumbled.

"Sir?" the technician asked.

"I fear that the real war is now, only just starting," Two told him and slowly left the room.

**Ishimura, Japan**

Dusk the next night came as smoothly as ever and Demona, Wedrington, Yoshi, Yama, and Je Lu's clan were quick to move to a small sailing vessel that had been readied the night before. It was large enough and steady enough that sleeping gargoyles would not have to worry about risking damage in the waves during the day. As they prepared to leave, they were all forced to say their goodbyes again.

"Do not go, my love," Sora pleaded to Yama, "Kai has forgiven you and will let you stay with your clan."

"I must go," Yama said sadly, "I can not face you or the hatchlings we have until I have restored my honor. If not, they will grow up without it, because I no longer have it, and they will never be fully accepted, even among our own clan."

Sora did not answer.

"I can not let them grow up knowing that their father sacrificed his honor to help a man who never knew what honor was to begin with," Yama spoke.

"They're only hatchlings," Sora cried into his shoulder, "Not even out of he rookery yet."

"And hopefully all of this will be over by the time they are ready to come out of the rookery," Yama spoke, "and all thing will go back to the way they were before I was foolish enough to listen to Taro."

Demona and Wedrington were meanwhile in a discussion with Kai.

"I'm afraid this will be a long trip," Demona spoke, "I'm afraid it will be awhile before we return."

"Do what is necessary," Kai spoke, "and go with honor."

Demona nodded and then changed her tone, "You are fortunate to live here. From what I saw last night, the humans of Ishimura are far more open then they are elsewhere in the world. Your village gives me some hope that a brighter future for all gargoyles is possible."

"We feel we are fortunate," Kai nodded, "Mostly as we have learned to live by bushido's code and the way of the warrior. Go with honor."

Demona and Wedrington bowed and then turned the boat. Kai remained on the shore watching it as it pulled out to sea. One of Ishimura's policemen approached him as the boat sailed off.

"They left," the officer spoke as the boat sailed off.

"Yes," Kai nodded turning to face him, "Is something wrong?"

"Possibly in China," the officer answered, "things have been busy there while you slept and I was sent to warn Yama and the travelers. They are sailing to utter chaos."

Kai gasped and then turned to look at the boat as it sailed off and now began to turn south.

"May any god who hears my plea watch over you," Kai then spoke, "for if you're sailing into chaos, then I fear that the path may be long and dark."

**To Be Continued…**


	11. Chaos

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place immediately after "A Brighter Future and a Darker Night".

Chaos

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Shanghai, China**

Things were once peaceful in China, and Shanghai was one of its growing cities, with electric lights shining so bright that the city map could easily be seen from space at night. But now things were changing as a lone man ducked inside an old restaurant and joined a group of young men gathered around a small round table.

"Did anyone see you, Lao?" the apparent leader of the group spoke.

"No, comrade leader," Lao answered, "no one saw me."

"Good," the leader answered, "now it is time we discuss the information we printed off the internet about these Illuminati."

"The information all appears correct," another man spoke up, one who looked like he was good with computers, "nothing directly illegitimate about the posting. The only real concern is to whether or not what was posted was fact or propaganda."

"And what will your bosses in the government say when they find out you've been helping us?" the leader asked, "Will they help?"

"Jin, I can not trust them anymore," the computer man answered, "half of my office was listed as minor members. The Premier is a member. How can I trust them to tell the truth?"

"And your certain the list is real?" the leader, Jin, asked again.

"Yes," the computer man answered, "all the names are registered in the government's list of citizens. None of the names are fake."

"What do we do now?" Lao asked.

"We are to capture as many as we can," Jin answered, "if they fight, do what you must to survive. We must drive the Illuminati out of China. If we can talk them into fighting with us, that's one thing. If not, then they have betrayed their own people."

The others nodded and were about to ask more specific questions as to how things would be organized when a large explosion in the distance caught their attention. Many of them rushed to the front window of the restaurant to see smoke slowly rising over the horizon. The sounds of gunfire soon followed after the explosion.

"It seems you're not the only one to have this idea," Lao answered, "the smoke looks like its coming from the government section of the city."

"Soon China will be free!" Jin spoke with a smile.

**Khan's Base, Tibet**

"They're actually rioting?" Khan asked his second in command as they stood inside the base's communications and monitoring station reviewing the events that had occurred after his announcement to the Chinese as a whole.

"Yes," Khan's second in command answered, "our scouts throughout Tibet's cities are directly reporting increased violence being unleashed on both Chinese soldiers and those Tibetans that are on the list of Illuminati members that we posted."

"What about the Chinese soldiers that were not on the list of Illuminati members?" Khan asked curiously.

"Any actions they've taken against their Illuminati brethren is unknown," Khan's second answered, "and to be honest, the Tibetans are not really letting them go either."

"We'll need to calm them down somehow," Khan sighed, "inform them that our enemies are the soldiers that support the Illuminati."

"That may be difficult to do, sir," Khan's second cautioned, "You may have to resort to using Marilyn to enslave them and I thought you said you wanted to avoid doing that."

"I do," Khan nodded and was about to continue when he was cut off by a third voice.

"And why is that?" came Marilyn's voice as the clone sorceress entered the room, "It would make the masses so easy for you to command."

"It would, but it would also tip our hand that we intend to rule over the world," Khan answered, "I would prefer to reign much the same way Napoleon ruled over France. Remember that he is still a national hero in France."

"How would respect a little short man win indigestion?" Marilyn retorted, dismissing the argument, "We can do it, so we should do it, just to make our job easier."

"If we can not persuade them to do so peacefully, then we will allow you to try and use your magic on them," Khan answered, "but I want to take the path that will gain us the most long term success first."

Marilyn slowly nodded and let Khan's second in command continue with his report.

"What about our unit strength?" Khan questioned, "Has this given us any opportunity to advance our own lines?"

"The Chinese positions in front of us appear to have weakened in terms of their overall numbers," Khan's second reported, "but the field commanders have not advanced the lines as they have not seen any sign as to whether or not the Chinese troops in front of them would help us or fight us. And there's still the present danger of overextending ourselves if we advance without receiving reinforcements."

"I'll speak with the scientists, and urge them to increase clone production," Khan assured him, "In the meantime, tell the field commanders to send scouts to see which way the people in front of us are leaning. Either toward us or toward the Illuminati."

"Of course," Khan's second answered.

"If they are with us against the Illuminati, do what you can to insure that they make it into our lines where we can coordinate things with their commanders," Khan instructed.

"Of course," Khan's second answered.

In the Chinese camps outside Khan's fortress, things were no where near as 'peaceful' as they where inside the fortress. One young private clutched his weapon nervously as he peaked over a foxhole to survey the scene before him. The announcement that the Chinese government had been subverted by this 'Illuminati' and its subsequent proving by a young lieutenant had sent the camp into a war within a war.

The camp was alive with flying bullets and tossed grenades. Accusations of treason had been exchanged and now men were dying for their chosen sides, some pro-Illuminati and some anti-Illuminati. As the lone private peered out he saw two pro-Illuminati soldiers running forward, trying to get into a series of tents to try and fire on his position. They were already under fire from a couple of other anti-Illuminati troops, but the shots were poorly aimed as no one apparently wanted to actually shoot through the tents they had been sleeping in. Pulling his rifle forward, the private fired two shots, killing both pro-Illuminati men instantly.

"Good shot, Fung," a non-commissioned officer encouraged from a point behind him, "move forward, we've got to push them out of the camp. Once they're in the open, dealing with them will be easy."

Fung nodded hesitantly and began to advance slowly to a new position that would put the pro-Illuminati troops in a tighter situation and forcing them to withdraw. He barely took four steps when he was struck in the chest by a pistol bullet, which took him to the ground.

It was on this scene that two of Khan's scouts came across. They had easily advanced past where the Chinese sentry positions were supposed to be to find the soldiers in their camp, shooting each other.

"The master's plan is working quite well, no?" the first scout asked with a smile.

"So far," the second nodded, "but we must find out which side is which. They're all in the same uniform and therefore, not visually identifiable."

The first nodded, "We'll approach the group on the right first and find their commander. If they're pro-Illuminati, we'll decapitate their leadership and escape. If they're anti-Illuminati, we'll give to them Khan's offer of support."

The second nodded in agreement, "Let's go."

They slowly made their way down a slope towards the right side of the camp. So far, the soldiers fighting the battle were to preoccupied with their fight with their fellows to notice the approach of the two scouts. They approached a lieutenant standing near the back edge of the camp shouting to sergeants nearby. The first scout tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, only to have the man whirl and try to punch him in the face. The first scout easily caught the fist and stopped the lieutenant's attack.

"Relax, lieutenant, we're scouts out trying figure out what is going on here," the first scout spoke.

"What is going on?" the lieutenant asked angrily, "where on Earth have you two been? China has been betrayed by those supporters of the barbarian Illuminati. I'm trying to remove their stain from my country!"

"Then it is good we ran into you," the first scout spoke, "my comrade and I can offer you a great amount of help."

The lieutenant looked at them suspiciously and then spoke, "you serve Khan."

"Yes," the first scout answered, "he offers to those who are against the Illuminati his assistance."

"Help us get rid of the vermin here, and then we'll talk," the lieutenant ordered and pointing at the pro-Illuminati side of the camp.

"Right away," the two scouts saluted and rushed to take over the fight directly.

**Shanghai**

Demona was surprised by what she saw as she and the rest of the gargoyles with her awoke to find the city of Shanghai literally burning before them. They had been sailing ever since they left Ishimura and had been looking forward to making landfall in China. The boat had been very sturdy as it easily supported their stone forms during the day and did not topple over when they awoke at night. On this night, after a few days of sailing and rowing, they wished they had not woken up.

"It's burning," Wedrington gasped, finding nothing else to say at the moment.

"Humans and their wars," Demona growled, "no respect for anything that lives."

"We don't know that," Yama answered, "besides, if this was a war, where are the attacking ships? Shanghai is a Chinese city. The only way it could be attacked would be by sea."

Demona looked back at the burning city before them. There was no sign of foreign invasion, but it was still clear that the humans of Shanghai had decided to burn their own city down, which she held as foolishness. It was still shocking though, as everything she had long read in newspapers and magazines seemed to indicate that things in Shanghai were relatively peaceful and a sign of China moving forward. The sight before her easily proved them wrong.

"Regardless, it is foolish to burn your own home down," Demona answered.

"How will we get through that?" Je Lu wondered, still horrified by what he saw in front of him, "We could choke on the smoke, or get lost in it."

"Perhaps Demona could use her magic to put the fires out," Yoshi offered as a suggestion.

Demona scowled at the Japanese gargoyle librarian, but then sighed as she noticed that Wedrington looked hopeful.

"We will need to get closer," Demona then answered, "I can not affect that large a fire from here."

"We'll be there soon enough," Shi La told her and began getting the other Tibetan gargoyles to their rowing positions to speed the boat along toward the inferno before them.

Demona then turned to look forward at the burning city. This was not part of her intended mission. It was a distraction at best. But, she was there and with Wedrington there, she was determined to show him that she was now different from the gargoyle that tried to launch a plague to wipe out humanity.

As they got closer to the city, they found that the fire was possibly the least of their problems. There was open fighting among the people there and as they approached a spot to dock their boat, they came across a middle aged business type woman fleeing a group of men armed with what looked like knives. What happened when the woman saw them startled them even more.

"Dragons!" the woman exclaimed in a surprised voice, "Dragons! Save me! They want to kill me!"

Demona was shocked by that outburst and could only stand there while Je Lu and one of the Tibetan males rushed forward. Je Lu managed to trip the first of the knife wielding attackers with his tail and his clan member managed to knock another down before the group pulled back in surprise at seeing the clan. This allowed Yama and two other Tibetan males to lunge forward and tackle the remaining attackers. They put up little resistance and were quickly out cold. That allowed them to turn their attention to the woman who had dropped at Demona and Wedrington's feet from exhaustion.

"Thank you, dragons, thank you," the woman spoke in a weak voice.

"We're gargoyles, not dragons," Shi La told her as she approached, "Why were these men after you?"

"You don't know?" the woman asked.

"We have not had the opportunity to follow the news for several days," Wedrington answered.

"The Tibetan rebel, Khan," the woman explained slowly, "he's exposed the Illuminati to all China. Now everything is going crazy. They're fighting in the streets over who is loyal and who is not."

"I take it you're an Illuminati member?" Demona questioned in a disgusted voice.

"Only a lower ranking member," the woman whimpered, "a secretary really. And it isn't like the Illuminati is truly evil. The world would be a much darker place without it to keep things together."

"Tell that to the countless innocents who have died because the Illuminati found some new way to insure that the world's governments loyalty to them," Demona sneered, "they are just as evil as this Khan person."

"But she does have a point," Yoshi spoke up, "If they've 'ruled' for as long as you say, the sudden destruction of the Illuminati could be just as dangerous as anything they've done. The destruction of this city is a clear sign of that."

Demona then looked up toward the flames that were engulfing large sections of one of Asia's largest cities and sighed heavily.

"A sign the world is far too complicated, and a sign that too many humans have fallen to the aspects that have made humanity dangerous to gargoyles through every century throughout history."

"What do we do?" one of the Tibetan females, named Hen, asked.

"For tonight we spread out and try to put these fires out," Demona answered, "we should avoid getting involved in the fighting as much as possible. If you come across fights, stop them, and make sure they get to a safe place Maybe when the humans see what their own madness has caused, they will stop and think."

"We're not to take sides?" Yama asked.

"And whose side are we to take?" Demona asked, "support the rebels and utter chaos? Or support the Illuminati and their tyranny in the name of order? In my own personal opinion I would prefer to rid the world of both. What they're doing here is madness. Therefore, I would prefer that we do not take sides."

The others then slowly sighed and then nodded. They soon began scaling the wall of the building they were near and began splitting up to do what they could to fight the fires. Demona and Wedrington glided toward the center of the fires, which happened to be the business centers of the city. The glass windows had already exploded as a result of being exposed to the flames and the two gargoyles could easily see flames consuming the framework of the building.

"Can you see anyone?" Wedrington asked nervously.

"If anyone is in these buildings, they're already dead," Demona answered, "the flames have already consumed too much. I will be summoning large sums of water from the rivers and the sea to try and drown these flames begin to spread. I will need you, Wedrington to direct the water, as I will be consumed in summoning the water."

"But I don't know magic, Demona," Wedrington said urgently, "I won't be of any use."

Demona chanted something in Latin and Wedrington soon found himself holding what looked like a fire hose and having a large pack on his back that felt like it was full of water or some other liquid.

"I will be transporting water into the pump, and you only need to use the hose to spray the water," Demona told him, "Don't worry. I will be doing all the magic."

Wedrington then fumbled with the switches and levers and was soon spraying water from the hose at a great deal of velocity at the closest burning building. He made sure to stay relatively close to where Demona was so her work was easier as he blasted away at the burning buildings with the hose, slowly putting some of the flames out.

It took the two of them several hours to get the first building out and insure that the flames from surrounding buildings didn't jump to the cleared building. In the time it took them to put the first building out, many of the surrounding fires had actually burned themselves out and were no longer as dangerous. They then moved to land on one of the buildings that had not been lit on fire yet.

"You okay?" Wedrington asked as they landed.

"Fine," Demona grumbled, "this is not what I intended to be doing tonight, but I'm fine."

"What do we do now?" Wedrington then asked, "Most of the fires in this area have burned out on their own."

"We move to put out some of the remaining hotspots until it gets close to dawn," Demona answered, "then we'll see what we can do to meet up with the others. For now, we're only taking a small breather."

Hours later, Demona and Wedrington glided out of Shanghai towards ground across the river from the city. They found Je Lu and his clan there, all of them coated in smoke and ash. Some also were noticeably burned, and one or two were wounded by knives or gunshots.

"You were right about one thing," Yama commented as Demona and Wedrington approached, "this whole thing is nothing but madness."

"And what do you expect from people who do not understand the way things are?" an unexpected voice spoke up cutting them off from their own conversation.

Every gargoyle present looked up to see a lone man in what looked like traditional Chinese monk's robes and holding a wooden cane, topped with what looked like a ruby, which had the emblem of the Illuminati carved into it. Unfortunately, they were unable to be appropriately shocked by the man's appearance as the sun rose and the gargoyles all turned to stone.

**Beijing**

China's Premier paced quietly inside a specially made Illuminati bunker as troops loyal to the Illuminati fought in the streets above him to regain order.

"This is completely unacceptable," the Premier raved in frustration, "I'm being made to hide while my nation is being torn to bits by some monster YOU created."

Six gave a slight sigh, "You should be grateful that most of your army officers are also loyal Illuminati soldiers."

"But many of the people aren't," the Premier answered, "and once they got the truth that most of their government officials consort with you people, they became very angry. Those of my government that weren't working with you have already joined the resistance and I suspect have taken leadership roles."

"They will be crushed in the end," Six answered, "The Council has authorized the use of direct force to stop Khan and to stop the rebellion that has sprung up around your country."

"And what will be left of it, and what will the people think of me?" the Premier shot back, "I may retain power, but they'll all hold me as some evil megalomaniac."

"We may be approaching a time when the Illuminati will have to reveal itself," Six commented, "educate the world why we've taken control over it. Khan was right when he said we controlled the world, but he was wrong in is assessment of why we control the world."

"To preserve order, I know," the Premier answered, "I've been listening to you for nearly twenty years. Why did you even create that monster of a man anyway?"

"We initially thought Khan and his 'supermen' could better insure order and deal with the few minor irritants to the Illuminati society," Six replied, "we never thought that Khan would somehow be able to think for himself."

"And now all of China is paying for your arrogance!" the Premier accused.

"I would watch my tone, if I were you," Six answered, "You wouldn't want to be caught by the rebels, now, do you?"

The Premier visibly paled with fear.

"Khan was a mistake," Six then spoke, "and yes one that we are paying dearly for, but he is still beatable. The Illuminati as a whole has far greater resources then he does, even if half of your army joins him in Tibet. In the long run he will fail."

"That doesn't mean he can destroy us all before he's beaten," the Premier answered, "look at what Hitler did to Europe before he finally lost in 1945. Look at what the Japanese did to my people, and to their own people before the Americans finally dropped the atomic bomb on them."

"I know global history," Six answered, "I played my part in making it. Khan will be nothing more then a bad memory when this is all over."

"I do pray you're right," the Premier answered and then turned to watch several monitoring screens that displayed the battle raging above them.

**Tibet, Khan's Base**

"You're men are all infantrymen?" Khan asked the lieutenant that his scouts had brought to him.

"Yes, but they're all highly skilled," the lieutenant answered, "and I'm certain that there are other soldiers out there that have not be corrupted by these Illuminati tyrants."

"I'm certain of that," Khan answered, "How many infantrymen are under your command?"

"At the present time?" the lieutenant replied, "about four hundred men sided with me against the Illuminati when we got conformation of what you reported, fifty of them were killed in the battle to take control of our camp. 'My unit' is three hundred fifty men strong. Not enough to advance on a large front in any direction, and still I am only a lieutenant. Outside of squad level action, I'm afraid I wouldn't know what to do to command men."

"Relax," Khan answered, "You may have to accept greater responsibility, but I have access information that you could easily learn the skills needed to be a higher ranking officer, even if it not a formality."

"Thank you," the lieutenant answered, "but before we go any further, I must ask you how this association is to run."

"As an alliance," Khan answered, "We will fight to free Tibet and China from the influence of the Illuminati and create a new society where all Chinese are decide who leads them, not decide who the Illuminati wants to lead them."

"All Chinese?" the lieutenant asked.

"Yes, all Chinese," Khan nodded, "I do intend to unite mainland China with the Nationalists on Taiwan. They have been just as manipulated by the Illuminati as the Communists on the mainland have been."

The lieutenant smiled, "An alliance is acceptable. May we produce a future that is bright and prosperous for China."

**Elsewhere, Dusk**

Demona awoke to find herself in a large metal room with several large computer screens along the far wall. The strange man she had seen just before dawn was there monitoring the computers. She quickly checked to see that Wedrington, Yama, Yoshi, and Je Lu and his clan were still there, and none of them were chained. Once sure that none of her companions had been harmed, Demona turned her attention to the man, who she was sure was an Illuminati member.

"You!" Demona growled as she addressed the man, "How dare you kidnap us!?"

"Kidnap?" the man asked back, "Kidnap? Hardly, female. If anything I saved your lives by bringing you here."

Demona was about to growl something more when Wedrington cut her off quickly.

"Saved us?" Wedrington questioned, "from what?"

"The mobs of the uneducated," the man answered, "Khan's announcement has unleashed madness on China and it is a very violent madness."

"We know about the civil war between the pro and ant-Illuminati factions," Demona growled, "Why did you bring us here?"

"The fighting between the rebels and those who stand for peaceful order has been chaotic," the man answered, "If they didn't know you were gargoyles, you might have been accidentally destroyed by the combatants as they fought each other. If one side did know you were gargoyles, you might have been deliberately destroyed out of the paranoid assumption that you were sent by the other side in the war."

"We aren't on either side in this war," Je Lu commented, "We're here to seek justice."

"Justice? For what?" the man asked back, "the only injustice in China is Khan at the moment. If you're going to be here, you may have to take a side in the war."

"Some group of 'supermen' drove our clan out of its home in Tibet,' Je Lu told him, "they destroyed the monastery we lived in and we feared they would threaten the rest of the world."

"Supermen, you say?" the man asked.

"What is it?" Yama asked bringing himself into the conversation.

"Khan is a 'superman'," the man sighed, "a being the Illuminati Council though would serve their needs better. If these supermen destroyed your home, it is likely Khan who ordered it."

"Your war is not our concern," Demona said firmly, "The Illuminati's order has hardly been 'peaceful'. I've seen the activities they've encouraged or done to insure order."

"And actions you no doubt believed made all humanity guilty of some crime or another," the man answered Demona back, "actions you felt gave you the right to seek the annihilation of man kind. Do not forget that we know you as well, Demona."

Demona nervously glanced at Wedrington and then turned to face the man again.

"I have changed a great deal recently," Demona said defensively.

"Of course," the man gave a polite bow, "contrary to our differences, we do not… or at least **I** do not seek to fight you. The Council may, but that is only because they think you have ties to Khan. Your own testimony shows that you're also Khan's enemy. To me at least."

"You seek an alliance then?" Yoshi asked.

"If at all possible to defeat Khan," the man answered, "the survival of the Illuminati society and the restoration of its powers will not involve you, if that is even possible."

"Possible?" one of Je Lu's clan, Lee, asked curiously.

"The Illuminati has only survived for so many years because few people know of it, and those that do, usually are members," the man explained, "if the masses ever knew of us, it would mean the Illuminati's destruction. Could we crush them in direct conflict? Possibly, but it would weaken the Illuminati greatly, and we'd be sitting on edge the rest of the way, and no one has ever liked a tyrant over them."

The man then paused to chuckle, "they may prefer to rule over someone else, but they've never wanted someone to rule over them."

"So even if Khan loses…" Wedrington began to ask.

"He's already exposed the Illuminati in China, which will lead to some questions as to whether or not there are Illuminati elsewhere, and he could very well do this around the world," the man finished, "which will then mean that both the Illuminati and the world may have to adapt to a greatly changed world."

"Sounds quite difficult," Je Lu commented.

"It is and it will be," the man answered, "but it will be worse if Khan wins."

"I can assure you that Khan will not win," Demona spoke firmly, "we will defeat him."

"You will need help getting to Tibet then," the man answered, "as I said before, the fighting right now is chaotic and not even those that are pro-Illuminati know everything. I can provide you with the locations of various observation bunkers that the Illuminati has used in the past, but has likely abandoned because of the present fighting."

"And what do we have to do to gain this information?" Demona questioned, suspicious of the man.

"I am not like most Illuminati members, and certainly not like the Council members," the man answered, "I realize that the situation for the Illuminati in China is desperate and dangerous. I'm in no position to demand you do anything. I can only hope that you will help and ask that you try to keep both sides from killing each other."

"We can agree to that," Wedrington spoke, "None of us want to see needless deaths."

"Where are these bunkers?" Demona demanded.

The man sighed and turned around and typed something into the keyboard. When he finished, a piece of paper was printed out that held a map of China on it with a definite scale drawn in at the bottom of the map. He then presented the map to Demona.

"An 'X' marks the location of each bunker," the man answered, "they shouldn't be too hard to find. They are outside each city and on the north side of the city. The doors should open when you come near them with the map."

"How are the people in Shanghai?" Shi La asked, her curiosity about whether or not the city survived or not.

"The fighting continues," the man sighed, "My attempts to stop the fighting without bloodshed have yet to really succeed and I have heard reports that 'loyal' Chinese troops are on their way to retake the city. It is madness, and that is why you must help us stop Khan as quickly as possible."

**To Be Continued…**


	12. Desperate Measures

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place one week after "Chaos".

Desperate Measures

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Beijing, China**

China's Premier stood alone in his former office in the government sector of the Chinese capital. The room was thoroughly trashed as though there had been a major shootout in it, and there probably had, given the violence that had presently erupted in China after Khan's revelation to the Chinese people about the Illuminati. The Pro-Illuminati faction of the army and the police had managed to secure Beijing the day before and he was able to leave the bunker the Illuminati had managed to whisk him to, and he was now able to overlook the damage that the week of violence had caused.

From what he saw, so far, the damages were far greater then what he felt his right to rule over China, Communist, Nationalist, Illuminati supported, or not. Large sections of the city had been burned to the ground, and many more were it at least destroyed. Not even the Forbidden City had escaped damage, as large sections of it appeared burned and were also damaged by gunfire. The interior of his own offices had also been badly damaged.

"I know it's rough, seeing all this," an Illuminati agent spoke as he entered the room, "but you must know that things would be worse without the Illuminati."

"China seemed to do fine without the Illuminati," the Premier answered, "After the Illuminati we've suffered even more. We've had the Mongol invasions, the 'invasions' of the British, French, and the division of our country into spheres of influence of the European Empires, the Japanese invasion, the Civil War which technically is still raging, the undeclared war with the United States in Korea, and now this war with Khan. I wonder if all of this is really worth Illuminati rule."

"Dynasties rose and fell before the Illuminati, and the periods between each were fairly violent," the agent spoke, "the only thing that has changed is the technology used in the violence. Besides, the Mongols were not under Illuminati influence and many of the events of World War II were only just under our control."

"Mostly as an experiment with men's lives to see who would win," the Premier grumbled, "I joined because I thought it was a way to improve the lives of everyone. Now look at everything. It looks like we've done more to destroy the world then anything else."

"It's not the Illuminati that caused this," the agent responded, "it was Khan's betrayal that caused this."

"Then perhaps you shouldn't have created him," the Premier answered, "because the consequences of his betrayal are horrendous, and I doubt our reign in China will be easy."

"You're probably right there," the agent sighed, "but we have to focus on stopping Khan now, because as bad as we may have become, he will be worse."

The Premier only sighed and looked out over the devastated city again in silence.

**Nanchang**

Things had slowed down considerably for Demona and the Tibetan gargoyles. The violence between the pro-Illuminati and anti-Illuminati forces had actually forced the group to largely walk to get to each bunker that the Illuminati agent in Shanghai said was open for them. They either would get pulled into a firefight to save someone from being murdered or would be caught in an area with weak winds. It infuriated Demona that she could not use her wings, but she kept quiet on the subject.

"Things don't look any better here," Shi La spoke as the group paused on a hill overlooking the village.

Demona then looked down at the town. Like much of Shanghai looked when they arrived in China, it looked as though a war had hit it. Smoke was clearly visible rising from various buildings, although there was no sign of fire, and there were no sign of fighting at the moment.

"Who do you suppose controls the town?" Yoshi asked curiously.

"Can't tell from here," Wedrington commented.

"Checking will have to wait until tomorrow night," Demona answered as she activated the hidden switch that opened the door to the bunker, "dawn is coming."

They then made their way into the bunker, not knowing that it was not unoccupied.

Inside the bunker, a two Illuminati scientists and one man holding an old leather bound book scrambled frantically on a small project.

"You're certain this will work?" one of the scientists asked.

"We do not have much choice," the man holding the book spoke, "Khan's revolution has caught us all by surprise, perhaps if we could journey back to when this all started, maybe we can stop Khan from even getting started."

"But isn't time travel something that only magic can do?" the other scientist asked.

"That is where I come in," the man answered, "I will provide the magic. You're to provide the technology to make my magic work, since the best tool for time travel is the Phoenix Gate, which we do not yet posses."

The man then began chanting in Chinese and gathering an emerald energy in the book he held while the scientists activated the large circular device that they had built. The device glowed with an electric purple light. It was at this point that Demona's group began to make their way into the room from the outside.

"What the…" Demona spoke in surprise, not expecting anyone to be there.

The scientists present turned in surprise, but the man holding the book did nothing visibly to appear shocked, but as he pointed his book at the device, his incantation came out different. A green glow then came out of the book and shot out to the glowing device. What resulted was an outward surge from the device. The two scientists dove away, but the man with the book stood still, while the gargoyles rushed forward. The surge caught the man and Demona and then pulled back to the stains of the device that had been made. Neither Demona or the man with the book were now there.

"They're gone!" Je Lu gasped in surprise.

"Where did they go?" a male in Je Lu's clan, Mar Ti, asked.

Wedrington glanced at the spot where Demona and the man had been and then growled, "I don't know, but I want to find out."

The white sphinx-like gargoyle then turned to the two scientists who were trading nervous glances between the device and the gargoyles. Wedrington quickly grabbed both by the collar and lifted them into the air.

"What have you done?" Wedrington demanded, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Nothing, nothing," the first spoke, "if she hadn't have rushed forward it wouldn't have caught her."

Wedrington only growled in response, almost passively. It was Yama, who placed a hand on his shoulder that calmed him. Wedrington only sighed, embarrassed, and dropped the two men.

"What is this place?" Wedrington asked again, "What is that device?"

"Why are you here?" the second scientist asked back.

"We asked first," Yama spoke slowly.

The two scientists glanced at each other and then sighed.

"It should be a time machine," the first scientist sighed, "the man your friend tried to 'save' believed that we could use time travel to stop Khan's reign of terror before it started."

Wedrington blinked and then spoke, "but there are rules to space and time. Without sorcery, you can't travel through time."

"That was our opinion," the second scientist answered, "at least the time travel part. We have been experimenting with teleportation devices, although that is only through space, and the bugs haven't been entirely worked out yet."

"But this guy knew magic, Chinese magic, but magic nonetheless," the first scientist cut in, "he claimed that with his spell combined with one of our experimental teleporters could allow him to travel through time."

"So the energy surge?" Yoshi asked.

"Must have been how the technology and the spell interacted, "if everything worked correctly, they're in the past and in Tibet. Hopefully before the trouble with Khan started."

"How will they come back?" Shi La asked.

Both scientists shrugged.

"We don't know," the first spoke nervously, "we were just hired to bring in the teleporter."

Wedrington glared at the two scientists and then back at their device.

"Why are you here?" the second scientist asked.

"An Illuminati member in Shanghai told us we could use these bunkers to sleep in," Je Lu answered, and then, almost as if on cue, turned to stone for the day.

**Elsewhere**

Demona found herself in a strange place that resembled a purple tube of electric energy. She kept her grip firmly on the man and his book to make sure he didn't touch the energy, which she was sure would kill him. The man, however, was not too enthusiastic about her being there.

"What are you doing here?" the man demanded.

"Trying to save you, human," Demona growled back, "don't make me regret it."

"I don't need to be saved," the man gestured to the energy around them, "this was supposed to happen."

"And what is this?" Demona questioned.

"This is the result of years of scientific experimentation and the mixing of science with sorcery," the man answered, "I intended for it to transport me to the past, before Khan's uprising. I could then eliminate him before he could cause the trouble he's present forced upon China."

Demona blinked in surprise at the answer. Outside of the Phoenix Gate, she didn't know of any other spells that could allow for time travel. Although, after her attempt to try and get her younger self to essentially launch a coup against both Goliath and the humans of the castle, she had found out that even with the Phoenix Gate, changing the past was unlikely, and any changes made would likely be changes that were to be made anyway. That had persuaded her to forget about trying to alter the past, but apparently, the Illuminati hadn't learned the same lesson.

"But now, thanks to you, my portal is ruined," the man continued, "we could appear in any time and in any place."

"And how long would we be there?" Demona questioned.

"I don't know," the man answered, "the spell was supposed to last for three days, but thanks to your interference, it could be as short as a minute or as long as forever."

Demona groaned as she didn't want to be caught anywhere for forever. While she still had the man with her, she decided to see if she could get some information.

"And why do you think time travel will help you?" Demona questioned.

"You've certainly seen what Khan has unleashed on China," the man answered, "the countless lives destroyed, if not lost. The buildings and livelihoods destroyed. If Khan is stopped, the destruction his rebellion has caused will be undone and the Illuminati will have its rule secured."

"Time travel will not work," Demona told him, "Khan can only be dealt with in the present, not the past."

The sky blue female felt slightly odd teaching that lesson, but she had to go with it. It was something that Wedrington likely preferred.

"And how do you know that?" the man demanded, sounding skeptical.

"Do you know who I am?" Demona asked pivoting the man so that he could look into her eyes.

The man then nodded after a moment.

"I once used the Phoenix Gate to try and change events in my past," Demona spoke, "all I ended up doing was making time flow as I remember it. My past self did not act as I intended. Time is like a river. You may alter its course, but it will eventually return to the original path."

Demona felt odd saying that, but did her best not to show it. The man was unable to answer as the portal suddenly opened and they were dumped out of the energy tunnel they were in, and were now left looking around their new surroundings.

**Tibet, Present Day**

"I can't move!" a Chinese soldier exclaimed.

"I can't fire!" another yelled nervously as he tried to squeeze the trigger on his rifle as two people advanced on their position.

The weapon did not fire, and that allowed Khan and Marilyn to approach the two soldiers easily. The approached calmly and once close, Khan reached out and pulled the rifles out of the hands of the two soldiers. He then fired a single round into he air.

"I think you lie," Khan taunted, "these weapons function quite well."

The two soldiers looked horrified at that, thinking they were about to be executed. They had come across the two as they followed a group of 'insurgents' that were in front of them. They unit had already been decimated by internal infighting over the discovery of the Illuminati and they had escaped to avoid the fighting as they had no interest in fighting their countrymen for either side. It was then that they were caught.

"Oh, be nice," Marilyn chided, "I think these two might be persuaded to join us. Their minds are not sold on the Illuminati."

Khan gave her a knowing smile and then turned back to the two soldiers who looked quite fearful of him and Marilyn. The discovery of the two soldiers had been an accident for them. They were supervising a scouting team that was spearheading the move to determine how strong the resistance was in front of Khan's forces, allowing him to figure out how long it would be before he could begin actively fighting the Chinese army. These two were the only ones they'd found and they were not the fighting type.

"You're that guy, Khan," the first soldier stuttered.

"Yes," Khan smiled, "the man fighting to free China from Illuminati control."

"You're the reason our troops are fighting each other," the second soldier gasped.

"The Illuminati can be blamed for that," Khan answered, "If they weren't trying to control your people, they wouldn't be fighting each other now. All I did was reveal their presence."

The two soldiers couldn't answer that.

"So what brings you two out here?" Khan spoke, "You've said that your own people are now fighting each other over the Illuminati. Shouldn't you have taken a side in that conflict?"

The two soldiers shared brief glances before the second spoke.

"We aren't too keen on fighting our own people," the second soldier replied, "regardless of the circumstances. They're still our countrymen. We came out here to deal with you whom we know to be a foreign interloper."

"But I'm not," Khan answered, "I was born here, in Tibet. I'm every bit a native as you."

"You don't look Tibetan," the first soldier spoke.

"Maybe," Khan replied, "but I was born here and my parents were legal residents."

The two soldiers were silent.

"And as I said before, I'm here to rid China of the Illuminati's influence on its people," Khan spoke, "it is they who have kept China divided between the Communists and the Nationalists on Taiwan. Between the Han and the Tibetan and those like me. I'm trying to free China from their oppression."

"And that can't be a bad thing, can it?" Marilyn asked.

The two soldiers exchanged glances for a moment and then turned back to face their interrogators.

"Probably not," the first soldier shrugged nervously.

"And where do you stand in regards to dealing with the Illuminati?" Khan asked.

"We're not really for them," the second soldier commented, "but we aren't really for shooting our own people either."

"Suppose I offered you a quartermaster's position?" Khan offered, "I am willing to welcome all who will fight the Illuminati, but wars are not won by infantrymen alone."

"You're recruiting us?" the second soldier gasped, "I thought you wanted to kill us."

"I have no desire to kill anyone," Khan replied, "It is unfortunate that such things tend to happen in war, but I have no desire to cause death. If you do not wish to fight your own people, I would gladly accept you in a non-combat position."

The two soldiers didn't know how to answer that as it was not something they expected. Eventually they only answered with a simple sentence.

"Thank you," they said, nearly in unison.

**In a Different Time**

Demona and the man landed hard on a stone structure, which neither of them immediately recognized as they were trying to recover from being dumped out of the energy tube they had been. As they got up it was clear to Demona that they were not in Tibet. As she looked out, she saw the familiar towers of Castle Wyvern, and she could hear the sounds of New York traffic going on down below them. They were in New York sometime after the castle had been brought there, but the question was when.

"Great," the man grumbled, "the hornet's nest. Your interference has taken us far off the course I had intended to take."

"You can not alter the past, so it was fruitless gamble on your part," Demona answered, "Right now, all we can do is figure out when we are."

Demona did not see any of the clan present, so she couldn't tell if it was still during the clan's rivalry with Xanatos or not at the moment. She then turned the outer edges of the walls to think. She felt tired at the moment, which she assumed was because it had been fairly close to dawn when she go sucked into the energy vortex that the man with her had created.

"And why did you 'people' barge in on my bunker anyway?" the man then demanded, "How did you know where our bunkers where?"

"An Illuminati agent in Shanghai gave me and my allies the location of the bunkers," Demona answered, "he understood that I am not concerned with the Illuminati. I am seeking to avenge a wrong done against a clan of gargoyles."

"No doubt wiping out humanity in the process," the man shot back.

Demona gave an angry growl. Genocide wasn't her goal any more as she was certain that it would upset Angela and Wedrington, but that didn't mean that she was going to tolerate people using her past against her. She then continued looking out over the city, hoping to find something to indicate the time. She then stepped back when she noticed that the World Trade Center towers were gone. Now, she knew that there was a time when they hadn't been built yet, but they were built before the Eyrie Building which held Castle Wyvern. For the castle to be there and the World Trade Center to be gone, was surprising.

"Something is strange here," Demona spoke after a short moment.

"I'll say," the man complained, "you've ruined my attempt to save the world, and now we're trapped in New York City in an unknown time for an unknowable amount of time."

"There are worse places," Demona answered back.

The man was about to respond when a voice spoke out from below them in the courtyard.

"I know I heard something? Do you think it's Broadway? That he and the others returned early?" the voice spoke.

That was Angela, Demona realized quickly and immediately decided that hiding was for the moment the best option. She grabbed the man and rushed for a corner turret that would prevent anyone in the courtyard from seeing them. The man was about to protest, but Demona countered him before he could.

"That is my daughter coming, and since we do not know our present time, it could very well be during a time when I and the Manhattan Clan were bitter enemies," Demona answered, "If she spots us, it could lead to trouble."

"Yeah, sure," the man grumbled.

Demona then leaned out a bit to see who Angela was in the courtyard with. It couldn't be Broadway, as she had heard her daughter inquire if Broadway was back. As she looked out, Demona was startled heavily by what she saw.

**Unknown Location, Present Day**

Two and Three stood silently as their representatives in Nanchang delivered their report.

"They came right to you?" Three asked curiously, "Have you smashed them yet?"

"No, they did not appear to be against the Illuminati, sir," the first spoke, "I think they might even be Khan's enemies as well."

"Demona is an ENEMY of Khan?" Two questioned.

"We would assume so," the second man said, "they were told about our bunkers by an Illuminati Agent in Shanghai."

"Pax," Three growled, "that man is a thorn in our side. It sickens me that he is of our order."

"Pax is a peaceful member of the order," Two reminded him, "We have him in China because he might be able to persuade the rebels to settle down and accept us, and if that fails, his presence will at least insure that many of the more radical members on our side are kept in check and don't begin slaughtering whole villages."

"I find it hard to believe that people can be peaceful in war," Three grumbled.

"Pax believes so, and thus, he now has his opportunity," Two answered.

"What should we do about the gargoyles, sir?" the first man asked nervously.

"Interrogate them when they awaken, although, since our combat forces are stretched in China at the moment," Three spoke, "I would suggest you avoid doing anything that would make them angry."

Two nodded, and the two men saluted. The transmission then cut off.

"First our own creation rebels against us," Three grumbled, "now we're potentially allying ourselves with a female gargoyle that spent the better part of her life trying to slaughter all humanity."

"These are tough and strange times," Two replied, "and might require us to take a stronger stance against those others that already know of our existence. They might decide to reveal us to the rest of the world."

**Castle Wyvern, Some Other Time**

Demona was shocked beyond belief by what she saw. Two female gargoyles had come out into the courtyard, one of which was her daughter. The other was herself. She had walked out into the courtyard with her daughter, and that wasn't really the thing that shocked her. What shocked her was that both this version of herself and her daughter were both heavily pregnant.

"We're in the future," Demona spoke after a few moments, "We've gone forward in time."

"At least we know what our interference has done," the man grumbled back, "but how do you know that?"

"Gargoyles only breed once every twenty years," Demona answered, "and my former clan in the present is only preparing for the breeder's moon in 2008, and my daughter is too young to have participated in the 1978 breeder's moon, and I have only been pregnant once before."

"So this is 2008?" the man asked.

"No, 2009, and probably close to the spring equinox," Demona answered, "both my future self and my daughter are looking close laying, and the breeder's moon rises with the autumnal equinox."

The man then only shrugged as gargoyle reproduction was not important as far as he was concerned. His goal was to stop Khan.

"So, can we get help?" the man asked, "if you're there with your daughter, wouldn't that mean that your past differences have been settled?"

"Maybe," Demona answered, "although I would warn you that the clan has had no reason to like the Illuminati."

"We have no choice," the man answered, "your interference ruined what the spell and the device were supposed to do and we are now stuck in a different time and in a different place. We need help to get us back."

"Back where?" a voice asked from the doorway of the turret that Demona and the man were hiding near.

They then turned to find Elisa standing there. The tan gargoyle was just as pregnant as Angela and Demona's future self were. Demona looked extremely surprised by Elisa's appearance.

"What?" Elisa asked, "I take it you didn't expect me to be pregnant along with the rest of the clan."

Demona found herself unable to directly answer.

"You're still in your phase where you think that because I was born human, I am not truly what I am now," Elisa continued, "and therefore, because I'm not a 'true gargoyle' I do not have or understand a gargoyle's instincts, and can not possibly conceive an egg with Goliath because that doesn't fit your world view. Well I'll have you know that not only do I feel those things, but I will be laying my egg in a week. All of us will."

Demona didn't really know how to answer that. Although she and the detective in their time had largely put most of their rivalry behind them, Demona still did not like Elisa Maza. She did believe that the transformed detective was not truly a gargoyle because she was only a gargoyle because of the Mage's spell. She thought that the gargoyle before her was only a gargoyle in form. Things obviously were different.

"You will have to forgive me," Demona then spoke, "apparently old wounds and rivalries have yet to fully heal."

"They will in time," Elisa replied, "So what brings you here from the past?"

"Accidentally interrupting an Illuminati experiment with time travel," Demona spoke gesturing to the man she had been sucked into the vortex with.

"This dates back to all that Khan business I'll bet," Elisa commented, sparing a glance at him, "they must be pretty desperate if they honestly think time travel will help them."

"That was my opinion," Demona spoke, "but that is not the important thing right now. Right now we must get back to the time we came from."

"I'm sure that can be arranged," Elisa answered, "but, that will mean talking with the clan members that are versed in magic."

Demona nodded. The man, however, was not so easily pleased.

"Wait, we know we will get back, as she obviously has to get back in order to mate," the man spoke, tugging on one of Elisa's wings, "you must tell me. Was Khan defeated?"

"You seek to know if the Illuminati still rule the world?" Elisa asked back, as she managed to regain her balance, "I'm afraid I can't answer you. You're already desperate to do what can't be done, knowing the future you will face and how dangerous it will be will only make things worse. We will try to help you get home, but we will not reveal what happens in the future."

Elisa then moved along the wall to a staircase into the courtyard with Demona and the man following behind them. As they came down into the courtyard they we greeted by Angela and Demona's future self.

"Who is here, Elisa?" Angela asked, "is it Broadway?"

"No," Elisa answered as she stepped aside to give them a better look, "just a couple of time travelers."

Both Angela and the future Demona blinked in surprise at both the man and the past Demona.

"I'd almost forgotten about all of that," the future Demona spoke, "I suppose you're both wishing to get back to your time?"

"Yes," the man said urgently, "Khan must be stopped."

The future Demona only nodded and then spoke, "come along inside. I believe I know what must be done, but it will require two to perform it, and it would be best if you could perhaps refresh my memory on what you intended to do."

They then began walking towards a door that lead them inside. As they did so, the future version of Demona dropped back to speak with her past self.

"I sense you're a bit confused," the future Demona commented quietly.

"I never thought I would ever be pregnant again," the past Demona sighed back, "seeing what will become of me is a bit surprising."

"It was enjoyable though," the future Demona smiled, which was something the past Demona didn't expect.

"The father," the past Demona began to ask, "is it… Wedrington?"

The future Demona smiled inwardly as her past self sounded almost hopeful, and then nodded.

"And you are not too far away from reciprocating the attraction he feels toward you," the future Demona spoke.

"He is…" the past Demona gasped.

"He is a male gargoyle and you are a female, and the only single female he knows and has been around," the future Demona answered, "and he is a capable warrior, even if at times he lacks the confidence of one. And unlike Thailog, Wedrington is loyal, and unlike your time with Goliath, you have largely gotten over the ambition and anger that drove you and Goliath apart."

The past Demona was unable to answer. It was true that the circumstances that drove her and Goliath apart were done, as that come as part of her wish to annihilate the human race, which after being with Wedrington, both his human and gargoyle form, that sort of mindset wasn't attractive to her anymore. And Wedrington had also proven very trustworthy to her. Not merely because he was there, but because he did not leave after he learned the truth of her actions. That was not something that a 'good' person would easily do, given her past.

"It is amazing to you, isn't it?" the future Demona commented, "how over time when with the right partner how you move away from your old hatreds?"

The past Demona nodded, "Maybe I should have met someone like Wedrington long ago."

The future Demona nodded, "Hopefully that'll help you with what is coming, and it won't be easy."

"Hey, quit talking to yourself, back there," Elisa commented somewhat humorously, which raised a slight giggle from Angela.

"Very funny detective," the future Demona groaned, knowing that joke had been coming for a while, "I didn't think that joke was funny when I first heard it. It did not get any better now that I'm hearing it for a second time."

The past Demona did not answer while her future self shook her head.

"Where are the others?" Demona asked, knowing that there had to be more than the small group she was with.

"The males should be patrolling right now," Angela answered, "the rest of us are here, as we're rather… egg heavy."

"Will you all just move along?" the man grumbled, "the sooner this is stopped, the sooner I can return to my time to stop Khan."

"He's learned nothing, has he?" the future Demona questioned as she over at her past self.

The past Demona only nodded.

**Nanchang, Present Time**

Wedrington and the others awoke again to find that little had changed over the course of the day. The two scientists were still there, but they were now armed. Wedrington turned to where he thought Demona would be, but then remembered that she had been sucked into the vortex with the Illuminati magician. None of them were restrained at the moment.

"Relax, you are in no danger, for the moment," the first scientist spoke, "We have confirmed with the Council and the agent you say you met in Shanghai. It is their preliminary conclusion that you are not here to fight us."

"Thank you for being so understanding," a female in Je Lu's clan answered politely, although Wedrington had a few choice words he decided to keep to himself.

"It is the Council's wish that you explain why you are in China and that you tell us whose side you are on," the second scientist spoke, trying to sound tough, but was clearly failing.

"We are hear for justice," Je Lu spoke, stepping forward, sensing that Wedrington was still highly concerned about Demona, and as Tibetan leader, it was his responsibility, "before your present war, Khan destroyed our monastery in Tibet, probably for its likely proximity to the base from which you had Khan operating from at the time. We seek to bring justice to our clan and our protectors. To be honest, we wish to take no direct role in your war. Should the anti-Illuminati or the pro-Illuminati factions win, it is of no direct concern, but we will stop Khan."

"Khan is the cause of the current war," the first scientist pointed out, "if you are against him, then you are on our side."

"This war started because you hide your influence from everyone," Yama commented, "An honorable warrior would have long admitted it and ruled justly. Khan has merely provided the spark in this instance."

Je Lu nodded in agreement, "We intend to deal with Khan directly, but we will take no direct action kill or wound any Chinaman threatened by your war with the non-Khan related rebels."

"We will try to save those who appear to be threatened with needless death," Shi La added, "regardless of whose side they're on."

"Most of these smaller rebel groups the Council still believes they can control," the second Scientist spoke, "and Khan is the heart of the matter. If you seek to stop him, I'd think the Council would consider you an ally at best. I don't think they'll consider you an enemy, for the moment."

"I suppose that is the best we can hope for," Je Lu spoke, "now, how do we go about recovering Demona and your comrade?"

"Unless one of you does magic, I doubt there is anything we can do," the first scientist sighed, "we'll just have to wait until they return on their own."

**Castle Wyvern, the Future**

Both Demonas sat quietly listening as the man explained both the spell he intended to cast and the words of the spell he ended up casting. Both Elisa and Angela sat nearby, either looking curious or protective in a manner of speaking.

"So, mother, can you undo the spell?" Angela asked from the couch she was on.

Both Demonas nodded.

"Yes," the future Demona spoke, "despite interrupting and changing his spell, its terms are barely at the beginner level."

"All that needs to be done is meet that rather simple terms of the spell cast," the past Demona continued, "since the 'timed return' portion has been removed. And that condition is 'until the night becomes light'."

"But, Manhattan is bright enough from all the street lights, shouldn't that have sent you both back already?" Elisa asked.

"Those are ground lights," the future Demona spoke, "the spell refers to lights in the sky. If there had been a full moon tonight, my past self and her apparent companion would have been sent back, but there is no full moon tonight."

"When is the next full moon?" the man asked urgently.

"Not for a few weeks," the future Demona answered, "probably too long for you to wait. The only possible option is for my past self and I to summon the Northern Lights to New York."

"New York is too far south for that," the man pointed out.

"Naturally, yes," the future Demona acknowledged, "but, between my past self and I, we have more than enough power to summon them, if only for a few seconds."

"But mother, your egg," Angela protested.

"Will be fine," the future Demona answered, "It is an easy spell that is quickly cast. It will do no damage to my egg. Come, we'd best send these two on their way before the males return."

That ended any potential argument and the group then went out and began to make their way to the courtyard. They found it empty for the moment. The past Demona and her human traveling partner moved toward one of the outer walls while the future Demona remained in the center of the courtyard.

"Thank you for your help," the past Demona spoke, "and for everything."

"It is no problem," the future Demona answered.

The two sky blue female gargoyles then began chanting in Latin and raised their hands to the air. They then released a great sphere of emerald energy up into the sky. Almost immediately the sight of the northern lights swirled over the castle, with all the other signs of their presence. They seemed to swirl into a purple colored circle that circled over the past Demona and the man. A second later, both were pulled into the air and 'sucked' into that circle. After that point, they and the lights, disappeared from sight.

**Nanchang, Present Time**

Yoshi was quietly writing their recent experiences he had in a journal he had picked up while they had been in Ishimura when the device the two Illuminati scientists had erected began to glow again with its electric purple color.

"Come quick," Yoshi yelled to get the attention of the group that was fiddling around with the computers nearby, "something is happening!"

The others rushed over to see Demona and the man thrown out of the device, both unharmed. Wedrington was quick to rush to Demona's side.

"Are you alright?" Wedrington asked as he helped her up.

"Fine," Demona said weakly, "but I'm nearly exhausted. I hate to say this, but I need a day in stone."

Wedrington glanced to the two scientists and Je Lu and then shrugged, "I suppose we could rest here. Where did that thing take you?"

Demona glanced at the white lion-like gargoyle and gave an embarrassed sigh, remembering what she had seen. Although, a thought ran through the back of her mind, commenting that he was caring, which she knew Thailog wasn't, and something she barely bothered to even notice in Goliath.

"A very nice place," Demona gave a weak smile, trying to hide her own embarrassment, which only left Wedrington confused.

Wedrington didn't answer, guessing that Demona would reveal everything at more opportune time. They were also drawn to the scientists talking with the man that Demona 'saved'.

"Now that I am back, you are to prepare the device again," the man ordered, "I am going to complete our mission."

"You can't be serious," Demona gasped, "You can't alter time. Regardless of whether or not your method of travel works."

"You merely failed," the man shot back, "one can, so long as they do it right. I will stop Khan before he becomes a threat, now stand back."

The man then cast his spell again and was sucked into the device. This time no one followed him. The device then shut off.

"Is he gone?" one of Je Lu's clan asked.

A second later, the device activated again and the man's body was thrown out of it. He did not move once his momentum ran out and he came to a stop. Yama moved to check him, and upon close inspection found the man dead. He had evidently died by strangulation.

"He's dead," Yama spoke.

"How? Did he at least succeed?" the second scientist asked.

"No," Demona spoke up, "I've tried altering the past before. I failed in accomplishing my intended mission, but actually insured that my own memories would happen. I probably even set myself on the path of mistakes that fill my past."

"What does that mean?" the first scientist demanded.

"It means that the past can not be changed," Demona answered, "Even if he kills Khan, the same actions he's started will come about in some other manner. How he met his end will probably only be known to Khan himself."

**Tibet, the Past**

The man arrived inside a rather large base to find it full of hustle and bustle of activity. Some of it had been stopped by his sudden appearance, but he recognized them as Illuminati agents.

"Who are you?" one man, a guard demanded.

"I am Wang Chi, I need to speak with the base commander," the man answered, "Please take me to him."

The guard glanced at the other people nearby. Eventually one nearby nodded and the guard motioned for Wang Chi to march in a specific direction. He was marched into a large conference room that had a screen displaying a map of Tibet on it.

"This man insists he speak with you, sir," the guard spoke.

The commander then turned around, revealing that he had been speaking with Khan directly. Wang Chi became extremely nervous and immediately reached for a gun he had hidden on his person.

"I come under urgent orders from the Illuminati Council," Wang Chi spoke, "Khan is a threat that must be destroyed."

The guard grabbed him from behind before he could fire and Wang Chi found himself disarmed.

"Sir, Khan has been a loyal enforcer and has already dealt with one major external threat to this base already," the commander answered, "simply saying he's a threat is not going to cut it. And your actions make me question if you're really here under orders, and not some maniac who's managed to infiltrate our ranks for his own purposes."

"But he is," Wang Chi answered, "I'm from the future, Khan will eventually rise against you, believing everything the Illuminati has given him makes him superior. He will try to conquer China."

"Take him away," the commander growled.

Two hours later, Wang Chi sat alone in the base's detention center. His mission had failed, for the moment. He could not hear anything going on outside his room. Eventually the door opened to reveal Khan.

"I'm not talking to you," Wang Chi growled.

"A pity," Khan answered, "as you strike me as a strange one. Talking of time travel. Exactly, how do I take over China, now?"

"You know how will do it," Wang Chi growled.

Khan walked forward and lifted Wang Chi up by the neck.

"Do what?" Khan asked, "to be honest, I had never thought about betraying the Illuminati until you arrived. Your words intrigued me. You say I believe myself to be superior."

Wang Chi didn't answer as he looked at the man with utter terror in his eyes.

"I think that is true," Khan answered, "as you can see, I'm human, but far stronger then you, and I have been engineered to have a superior intellect. I think it is only just that the strong rule the weak. The Illuminati's time has past, and I want to thank you for preparing the way for MY time."

Khan then tightened his grip until Wang Chi couldn't breathe any longer, and died. He then dropped the body and left the cell.

**To Be Continued…**


	13. Contact

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place one week after "Desperate Measures".

Contact

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Tibet**

Khan stood quietly before the main communications screen with Marilyn and his second in command. He was not speaking with anyone at the moment, but was following the news reports of his co-opting the splintering Chinese Army into his own forces and using them to conquer China from those who followed the Illuminati. They were specifically watching a BBC news program.

"The resurgent civil war in China continues to become more and more violent as instances of direct combat are becoming more and more common place throughout China," the reporter spoke, "and now as the initial shock at the announcement of a secret third part ruling China has been erased, the major players have been clearly shown.

The screen then showed fuzzy images of some of Khan's followers walking along a path in the mountains.

"On one side are these troops," the reporter spoke, "the soldiers loyal to the man known only as Khan, who announced the existence of the 'secret third party', the Illuminati. So far, many portions of the Chinese army that are Anti-Illuminati have been flocking to the service of Khan, and that is partially responsible for his capture of Tibet earlier this week. There are other Anti-Illuminati forces in existence in China, but they are small and scattered, and only just holding on against a Chinese military which is beginning to recover from the shock of Khan's announcement."

The screen then showed the image of troops loyal to the Chinese government slowing making their way through a city street.

"On the other side is the Communist Chinese government, which continues to deny the existence of the Illuminati, and claims that Khan is nothing more then a rebel," the reporter spoke, "They are currently mopping up resistance and many parts of eastern China, mostly citizens launching ad hoc resistance efforts, and have mostly crushed these movements. There are some army units putting up fierce fights, but unless Khan's forces in Tibet are able to get to them, it is likely that these units are also likely to be crushed."

"We should help these groups if they are cut off and desperately holding off," Khan commented, "they'd be honor bound to at least fight with us."

"I think most of them are doing better then what these news people can uncover," the second in command corrected, "China's government is already a tyranny on some level with heavy state censorship, and since our struggle also involves the Illuminati, I'm sure they are also monitoring and censoring the news reports as well. This is merely what they will allow to be told to the outside world."

"You do agree that they will side with us against a common foe?" Khan questioned.

"If we are able to present our argument effectively, yes," the second in command nodded, "if we just show up and demand they help us, it's a coin flip and could go either way."

"Thank you for the word of warning," Khan smiled, "a little caution never hurt anyone."

"But too much hurts everyone," Marilyn answered, "The Illuminati are rallying their sorcerers to side with the Chinese. I know it. We must secure the entire country and quickly, before anymore trouble arrives."

**Dukou, Sichuan Province, China**

Demona sat alone in a quiet sector of the Illuminati bunker that the Shanghai agent, known as Pax, had let them know about. The sounds of armies echoed in the valleys above the bunker they were in, but did not appear to be very close to them. The fighting between the Pro and Anti-Illuminati factions was not what weighed on the immortal female's mind. Her mind, strangely, wasn't even thinking about what Khan had done to Je Lu's clan. It was about her experience with the Illuminati sorcerer and his 'time machine'.

In roughly eight years, she would have a new egg, fathered by the white lion-like English gargoyle that she first knew as a human and formed a relatively friendly relationship with, even before Thailog's sorceress transformed him. Things between them had been somewhat better after his transformation, but Demona had tried to keep their relationship as professional as possible, even though it had become obvious over time that she was seeing Wedrington as a friend. Now, according to what she had seen in the future, he would be her mate.

That made her wonder one major question. Why. Wedrington knew her past and knew of her temper. Not exactly things that would inspire a long term relation from a male such as she. And considering her past history with male gargoyles, she wondered if it was right for her to even consider the matter. Her only loving relationship had been with Goliath, but that pairing was now dead, mostly due to her own over reactions and their clan's one thousand year sleep. Now Goliath had taken and bonded with a new female.

Then there was Thailog. Outside of sensing someone she could manipulate and seemed willing to go along with Demona's plans at the time, she couldn't really place why she had been attracted to him. Yes he had Goliath's body and equipment, but thanks to the battle with the Clan over the clones, Demona learned that while she had been trying to manipulate Thailog, Thailog had been manipulating her. It was not a loving pairing. The memory of his betrayal still angered her, and a good part of her hoped Goliath would let Thailog be until she could return and punish him for what he did to her, and to Wedrington.

She glanced over at the lion-like gargoyle. He was practicing some meditation techniques, with various members of Je Lu's clan trying to correct possible flaws. He was nothing like Thailog, but he was not the warrior that Goliath had been, and still was, either. He was still adjusting to being a gargoyle for the most part, yet a good portion of her mind agued that that wasn't a bad thing and his friendship was more important. And that was something she was wary of, as it didn't make her look particularly tough.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Yama and Yoshi approached with Je Lu following close behind.

"Moving through this specific area may be difficult," Yama spoke first, "I believe we're entering the area where there are more Anti-Illuminati forces rebelling against the Pro-Illuminati Forces. A small group of what I would presume to be Anti-Illuminati troops hold the town, but the river and Pro-Illuminati troops have cut them off from any support to the north."

"They are fighting hard all over the area," Je Lu added, "We could not see what this fighting was doing to the people in the village or what losses have already been incurred on the soldiers fighting."

"The fighting between the armies is not our concern," Demona spoke in a low voice, "the Illuminati, since it has been exposed here, will fight hard to enforce its rule, regardless of what we do."

"If you're so certain that these Illuminati members are evil why do you ignore them, then?" Yoshi asked, "the current situation is tearing China apart. Khan may be the cause, but the Illuminati can not be entirely immune to the blame."

"They can not, but the problem with the Illuminati is that they are not entirely evil," Demona sighed, "many of them likely joined for similar reasons to why I did what I did in my past. Wanting to preserve peace and order, and finding themselves caught in some one else's scheme. As a result, not everything the Illuminati does is evil, and that there is a lot of things the organization does that is good."

"So what do you think we should do?" Je Lu asked, "If we ignore these army battles, what should we do?"

"We'll need to try and move around them until we find those who are actually fighting for Khan," Demona answered, "then we move to try and get to Khan's headquarters. Without Khan, I doubt that his movement will survive."

"His forces may be close," Je Lu commented, "according to the news report we saw on their communications screen when we arrived, he's taken all of Tibet under his control and may be moving on to absorb the various Anti-Illuminati factions into his command."

Demona was about to answer when the sun rose and they all went through the familiar transformation from living being to stone statue to sleep away the day in stone.

Meanwhile, an infantry colonel who had sided with the Anti-Illuminati factions in the Chinese army looked out over the town that his men held against several Pro-Illuminati factions that had practically surrounded the town of Dukou.

"How are our stocks of ammunition?" the colonel asked.

"Fair," a lieutenant answered, "since most of the 'Pro-Illuminati' troops are to the south, east, and west of us, and of them, only those to the south and west of us do not need to worry about crossing a river before attacking us. Our position is tough but not impossible."

The colonel then nodded, "Good. I want our strongest troops to ace the south and west. Those facing the north and east are to monitor any possible line of advance against us, but that is all."

The rest nodded in agreement. As they did so, however, a barrage of artillery landed all over the village and the lands immediately around it. The colonel looked on, horrified as several buildings were suddenly flying through the air after being directly hit by artillery shells.

"We've got to silence those guns, or else they'll just hold us here," the colonel spoke in a hurried voice.

"We can't target them, most of them are across the river to our east," the lieutenant told him nervously, "assaulting it would mean abandoning our hold here and allowing our units to the north of us to be surrounded and destroyed."

The colonel sighed heavily, "We're going to need major help if we are to survive."

**Tibet**

Khan and his second looked at a map of China showing the various pockets of Anti-Illuminati resistance and areas that the Pro-Illuminati factions held. Some of the map was drawn in thanks to the use of Chinese pilots who had sided against the Illuminati and were now serving as Khan's own air force, but most of it was done by hacking into the satellites in space that the Illuminati controlled and hacking into their system. They had been changing their access codes, but they weren't good enough to get past the hackers that Khan had routinely reading the Illuminati's mail.

His second in command and Marilyn stood nearby while he looked over the map. They came to attention as Khan finally began speaking.

"Now that Tibet is ours, we must press our offensive to gain control of all of China," Khan spoke, "The key will be gathering gaining a major port. Preferably Hong Kong. We can then use the ships there to speed up our advance to bring troops closer to Beijing."

"We'll need to recruit more Chinese soldiers into our army," the second in command spoke, "Even with our cloning cylinders operating at full efficiency, we don't have the numbers to hold a line running from here to coast and landing troops amphibiously near Beijing."

"Which is why I said we should continue recruiting when we followed the news broadcast," Khan answered with a nod, "At present that will include an extensive series of campaigns to the north of Tibet and to our southeast."

Both the second in command and Marilyn took a look at the map Khan had laid out before them. It was the second in command that actually spoke first.

"There is a greater percentage of Anti-Illuminati troops in the province they list as Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu then there are Pro-Illuminati troops," the second in command commented, "At our present strength, we could easily link up with them."

"However, if you're looking at Hong Kong, you'd have to drive southeast," Marilyn commented, "and it wouldn't be until we get close to Chengdu and Dukuou before you would come in contact with any serious Anti-Illuminati force."

"We are to let the regular Chinese units that have sided with us move north," Khan spoke, "they are to move as carefully as possible. If they run into anything they can't easily overwhelm, they're either to pull back and go on the defensive or go around them."

"I take it the overall drive to Hong Kong is to be the main goal?" the second in command asked.

"We've cloned enough supermen now and recruited enough Chinese troops to consider moving into Sichuan Province, and Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu Province," Khan spoke, "We can then reexamine our situation then. Besides, the strongest Pro-Illuminati forces are circled around Chengdu, which does not necessarily have to be taken."  
"You mean to bypass them?" the second asked.

Khan nodded, "I will entrust the direct leadership of this attack to you Marilyn. You are to make sure that the Pro-Illuminati Chinese can not do anything to hurt us."

"I will do my best," Marilyn answered with answer.

**Beijing**

"When did this start?" China's premier demanded as he approached the group.

"About an hour ago," one of a cluster of generals answered, "It's mostly Chinese troops that flocked to Khan's cause, but they are advancing north, and considering that most of the soldiers in Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu are currently rebelling against our rule, it's likely that the province will soon be in Khan's hands without a massive redeployment of troops from other fronts."

"That would weaken our ability to crush these small rebellions elsewhere," another general commented, "there are some army units constituting parts of the rebellion."

There was a collective heavy sigh from all the men involved.

"Has Khan attacked in any other direction?" a third general asked.

"There has been some movement in a southeastward direction, but so far, these seem to be more probing attacks," the commander of that section of the line reported, "Allowing me to keep the main combat troops around the main rebel areas already in my sector."

"Be careful," the first general spoke, "this could be a faint and will attack in force when he senses either you haven't acted or if we transfer troops north."  
"I intend to be careful," the sector commander spoke, "but I can't afford to leave the rebels at my back."

The other officers nodded in agreement while China's Premier only sighed as he listened to them discuss the options they had. After a few moments he gave a louder, somewhat depressed sigh.

"Does anyone remember when we did this to improve lives?" the Premier asked.

The generals all turned their heads to look over at the Premier with a slightly puzzled look on their faces.

"We're here planning battles on our own territory to insure that the Illuminati retain control of China," the Premier sighed, "I joined because I thought it was the best way to help China. Not to play some game of power."

"You know that Khan will kill you and all of us if you just step aside?" the second general asked.

"I do, but I don't think that doing this for the Illuminati will work anymore," the Premier answered, "we must win the war, yes, but it must be for something other than to preserve Illuminati rule."

"The Illuminati will never allow that," the sector commander warned, "they believe that their council knows how to move everything forward. If we refuse to follow their edicts, we will become the rebels and they will kill us."

"And that is what saddens me about all of this," the Premier sighed, "Let me know what you decide. I will go along with it."

**Elsewhere in China**

Marilyn smiled as several groups of Chinese soldiers fled before her. They were trained to fight soldiers, but when it came to a sorceress who went intangible the instant their bullets got close and then returned fire with lightning bolts, or turning their weapons into harmless objects, and in one or two instances, turning the soldier into some species of animal, the soldiers were not prepared for that sort of combat.

"You are quite effective," one of supermen commented, "we barely had to fire a shot."

"They are pulling back," Marilyn told him, "but be ready. They'll likely regroup when they realize I've only punched the hole in their lines. If they stall your drive toward Chengdu, ignore it for now and turn south toward Dukou. The largest anti-Illuminati group in this province is in that specific area."

"Of course, ma'am," the superman saluted.

Marilyn nodded as the supermen troops moved on to continue the advance. She had been sent to not only lead the attack to the southeast, but to also help coordinate the attack and to insure that the Chinese troops on the front line couldn't hold them back. At present the mission for these men was to seize the Chinese province of Sichuan, with a primary emphasis on getting to the anti-Illuminati resistance groups in the province.

The initial attack on the Chinese lines had been very successful with Marilyn leading the way. The Chinese did not seem to have more then several infantry units, who appeared to be monitoring the front line, rather then defending it. This made it easy for Marilyn to attack with a system of 'firepower' that the Chinese soldiers couldn't counter. Through a series of specialized comm.-links, Marilyn could also tell that the units that she wasn't directly aiding at the moment were advancing with the same successes that this unit she was with was enjoying. As she supervised the advance, she turned to a small communications device to report in.

"How is your progress?" came Khan's voice as she made contact with the main base.

"Quite good," Marilyn answered, "their front troops have broken and your men are advancing. We should near Chengdu and Dukou by this evening."

"They likely have their heavy units closer to the resistance sites," Khan warned, "they do not expect us to attack, and likely do not think we have any heavy equipment. Once they realize that we pose the greater threat then the isolated anti-Illuminati resistance groups, they will move to face us."

"I'll keep in contact with your men," Marilyn nodded, even though Khan couldn't see her nod, "Right now, I'm about to see if I can make contact with the Resistance troops in Dukou. Let them know help is on the way."

"Good," Khan answered, "take no unnecessary risks."

"Of course, sir," Marilyn replied and terminated the link for now.

**Dukou**

The colonel crouched low in a makeshift bunker as pro-Illuminati artillery continued to fall on their lines. The barrage continued to be nearly continuous, and had destroyed much of the town, which had been evacuated when the battle began, and for that the colonel did breathe some sigh of relief. He didn't want he people harmed. He wanted to free them from a foreign influence of a regime that had no interest in China.

"Have any of them made any attempt to directly attack us?" he yelled into a radio, hoping he was heard over the sounds of the shells exploding.

"A couple of tanks tried to ford the river," came the answer from the soldier he had reached, "we destroyed them with rockets, but I'm afraid the Illuminati troops are getting confident that they can assault our positions."

The colonel sighed and then asked, "How are your ammunition stores?"

"Good sir," was the reply, "they haven't hit them yet with their artillery, but right now, our ammunition isn't the concern. It's whether or not we can survive this."

"Keep down," the colonel ordered, "and keep watch. If they're getting confident, they may try to attack soon."

"Of course, sir," was the reply.

The colonel then sighed again as he placed the hand held radio set down. He then looked over to an officer that served as his XO in their small 'rebel' unit.

"Do you have any ideas, Lee?" the colonel asked.

The other officer, identified as 'Lee', sighed heavily and shook his head.

"We don't have the numbers to attack and hold the town at the same time," Lee sighed, "and with their artillery lining the hills, we do not have much choice if we are to survive. If we do not attack their positions, they will crush us in our present state of siege."

The colonel only sighed as he knew that this would mean the defeat and capture of his men and the enslavement of the people he was trying to free.

"Isn't there anything we can hope for?" he asked in a frustrated manner, looking up at the ceiling.

"Possibly this Khan's forces coming down from Tibet," Lee offered, "that might be the only thing that can save us from total defeat."

The colonel then sighed again. Despite warning them of the Illuminati's manipulations, he was not too keen on Khan's movement. He did not know anything of this man, and he had appeared quite suddenly with a ready army and acted as the whistle blower. Something told the colonel that there was more to Khan then met the eye.

"I know you don't trust the guy, but he may be our only shot at freeing our people," Lee spoke again after the colonel did not immediately answer.

"I wish it didn't have to be this way," the colonel sighed heavily.

Lee was about to answer when a third voice cut into the conversation.

"I apologize if the current situation troubles you," came the third voice in a fairly polite and respectful manner.

Both the colonel and Lee turned to see a woman in black commando gear leaning against the doorframe of their bunker. Both were totally shocked by her appearance, as she didn't look Chinese and that the had not heard her come in.

"Who are you?" the colonel demanded, "How did you get in here?"

"I am Marilyn, an agent of the man you know as Khan," Marilyn said slowly, "He has sent me here to help you."

"And suppose we do not want your master's help?" the colonel questioned, "We know nothing of him. You're here to get us to join him. Fly HIS banner. Suppose he is just as evil as the Illuminati. We would be trading one dictator for another."

"Technically, China has no problem with dictators," Marilyn commented, "considering that the Chinese 'democracy' movement is in exile on Taiwan. And besides, being a dictator isn't one Khan's goals."

"How can we be sure?" Lee asked, "Colonel Zhu Ming is correct. Khan has told us little of himself or his plans. All we know is that he is a 'Tibetan native' who opposes the Illuminati and has proof of their existence."

"He has promised to work with all Chinese officers and Tibetan monks that side with him to form a new government once the Illuminati have been defeated," Marilyn promised, "I can not say for certain which officers will become part of the new government as the coalition is only forming just now, but I'm sure you have a chance to join it if you do join us."

Zhu Ming and Lee exchanged glances before Zhu Ming finally sighed and turned to face Marilyn.

"I don't know how you got here, but right now, that isn't important," Zhu Ming sighed, "and neither, really, is my concerns about your master's honesty. My men are surrounded by several pro-Illuminati units with heavy weapons. I doubt we can hold this town forever."

"I already have units moving in this direction," Marilyn explained, "they report that they can reach here by dusk. Can you hold until then?"

"We can hold off their infantry," Zhu Ming told her, "what we need to get rid of is their artillery."

Marilyn didn't answer, and quietly listened to the sound of the high explosive shells landing about the ground above them.

"I can deal with them for you," Marilyn said confidently, "as a symbol of good faith that Khan will honor his promises."

"Will you need anything?" Lee asked, fearful that the woman would demand valuable pieces of ammunition.

"No, I should be fine on my own," Marilyn answered and then gave a smile, "and besides, I'm sure they have plenty of artillery shells nearby that can be detonated beside the guns."

And with that Marilyn walked out of the bunker, leaving Zhu Ming and Lee to look on with some confusion. Eventually Zhu Ming spoke after a few moments of puzzled silence.

"Hopefully, she distracts them enough for us to put together a decent evacuation plan," Zhu Ming spoke, "I don't think we can realistically expect to keep fighting here. Maybe we can try to move toward Tibet and negotiate with Khan there."

"Maybe," Lee nodded.

On the hills above Dukou, the Pro-Illuminati artillery men continued to fire shells down into the village and surrounding area when suddenly, one of the guns literally exploded as the shell was being loaded. Other artillerymen looked up as the carnage destroyed two cannons to see Marilyn, alone, standing on the ruins of the first cannon.

"And this is where the fun begins," Marilyn smiled as she began channeling the magic needed to silence the guns.

**Late that Evening**

When they awoke for the night, the traveling gargoyles immediately noticed the absence of noises heard before they went into their stone-sleep. There was no artillery.

"The battle has stopped," Yoshi commented at the sound.

"Do you think they're still in the area then?" Shi La asked nervously.

"The victor likely is," Demona grumbled, "human wars are wars of annihilation. They don't stop until one side is entirely destroyed. Sometimes is a good move, sometimes not… It would depend on the situation and the point of view."

"No war is 'good'," Wedrington corrected, "necessary, maybe, just, maybe, but not good."

Demona nodded. Debating the issue would mostly be on one's definition of 'good' and 'necessary', which would have been pointless.

"I suppose our next move is to continue on to Tibet, to the ruins of our old monastery?" Je Lu asked.

"Yes," Demona nodded, "Khan is likely using the closest Illuminati base as his nerve center. Using their equipment to monitor the battles and communicate with his troops. Not to mention growing more."

"Kill the brain of this war," Yama nodded, "I trust that the operation will not be underhanded."

"There is likely to be an open battle if that is what you are wondering," Demona spoke, "although, sometimes it is smarter to do something that doesn't involve charging headlong without thinking. Trust me. I've made the mistake of losing my temper far too many times."

"I'm not saying not to think," Yama answered, "I'm saying that it would be dishonorable not to beat him in direct combat."

Demona only nodded, "I doubt direct combat can be avoided" and then sighed heavily.

After a very quick breakfast, the group was quick to depart the bunker and continue on their way to Tibet. As they emerged from the bunker there were greater surprises in store for them. There was smoke visibly rising from various areas along the hills ringing the town below them, and the visual image of rifle fire could be seen from where they were.

"They're still fighting," Wedrington spoke in an almost depressed voice.

"There is nothing we can do here, other then keep the battle going," Demona spoke almost instinctively, as if trying to comfort the English male.

They then slowly began climbing a nearby tree and beginning to glide along the route needed to get them to Tibet. Once in the air, Je Lu and Shi La took the lead, both from the sense that they were the Tibetan clan's leaders, but that they were also the guides for the journey. As they did, they glided over the village that looked more like a cluster of ruins then actual town. Looking down, Demona noticed something in the town center.

"It's that woman who attacked us in Michigan," Demona exclaimed as she stopped in the air, bringing the whole formation to a halt.

"Are you sure?" Wedrington asked.

"I'd recognize that white hair anywhere," Demona growled, "I will take care of her."

"What of the others?" one of the Tibetan gargoyles, Gro Ling, asked.

"They are no threat to me," Demona answered, "the rest of you go on. I will catch up with you after Khan's witch has been defeated."

"Are you sure?" Je Lu questioned.

"Yes," Demona answered, "GO! I will catch up."

Demona then tucked in her wings and dove downward toward the figure of Khan's sorceress, Marilyn. Half way down she let out a loud roar to make her presence known and fired a pair of lightning spells downward on the two men closest to Marilyn. The spell sent both men collapsing to the ground, allowing Demona to dive low and rake her talons across Marilyn's face. As Demona landed she noticed that her arrival had startled all of the people there, although the gathered soldiers appeared confused. Apparently, Demona had knocked their commanders out in her initial attack. Unfortunately, Marilyn was not so surprised.

"She's a sorceress hired by the Illuminati to spread their evil!" Marilyn screamed in an accusing manner, "kill her before she corrupts you!"

Demona was forced to duck down as several shots were fired at her. The shots missed, but as she got closer to the ground, the ground itself suddenly came to life and wrapped itself around her. Marilyn then approached her as she struggled inside the cocoon of mud.

"I do like this better then the ending of our last meeting, gargoyle," Marilyn smiled, "perhaps all I was missing in that battle was a distraction. Now I get to kill you, and insure you can not interfere in the liberating of this country."

"I have no concern with the Illuminati struggle in China," Demona snarled back as she continued to struggle, "I am here to stop you and your master before you harm any more innocent gargoyles."

"The only gargoyle here is you," Marilyn chuckled.

"You're wrong there," came Wedrington's voice as he dove from above and physically knocked several soldiers backward and disarming them as he did so.

Wedrington then rushed to pull Demona out of the mud prison that Marilyn had tried to trap her in.

"I told you to keep going," Demona growled angrily.

"Everyone else has gone ahead," Wedrington answered as he helped her to her feet, "but I will not leave your side. I promised I would help, and right now you will need it."

Demona was somewhat surprised by the force behind the English male's voice as Wedrington swung a rifle he had taken and knocked three anti-Illuminati soldiers out with it. There was a great deal of determination behind the voice, which Demona had previously only heard from a gargoyle defending his or her mate. A part of her was touched, but she couldn't dwell on that at the moment.

"Can you distract the soldiers while I deal with Marilyn?" Demona questioned as she turned to face the white haired sorceress.

"I'll do my best," Wedrington answered.

Demona then charged forward at Marilyn, who was recovering from Wedrington's earlier attack. Marilyn had little time to react as Demona grabbed hold of an arm and threw her toward the river. Marilyn landed in it with a splash, and Demona quickly cast a spell that made the river freeze over. She then stood over the frozen water to see if she had actually beaten Marilyn.

"A valiant try, but still futile," came Marilyn's voice from behind her.

Demona turned to take a bolt of lightning directly to her chest, which sent her skidding along the ice that she had magically summoned.

"I am your equal, Demona," Marilyn said confidently, "You can't kill me by putting me 'on ice'. And Khan's troops are on their way and will be here shortly. Can you beat me and them? Can your mate hold them off? I think not, and I will have fun watching both of you die!"

"NOOOO!" Demona roared, leaping up and firing a lightning spell of her own.

Marilyn managed to avoid taking the lightning spell, but could not get away from Demona's reach, and the sky blue female landed a strong punch to Marilyn's check, knocking the sorceress down.

"You will not harm him!" Demona growled angrily and kicked Marilyn, sending her flying back onto the back of the river.

Demona then began to advance again, trying to think of a spell that Marilyn couldn't avoid, deflect, or block in some way.

Wedrington, meanwhile, found himself in a much more dangerous situation. While surprise had allowed him to easily knock out or disarm several anti-Illuminati soldiers, they had more reinforcements coming and all of them were shooting at him. Thankfully for him, the fact that they were in a fairly small village and that these attacking soldiers couldn't just charge and fire.

He charged the closest conscious soldier and dragged him into an alley, primarily depending on a gargoyle's greater strength. He managed to disarm the soldier and then throw him at the first soldier to approach the alley from the outside. He then ducked down the alley and dove through the opening in a wall that had been made by the earlier artillery fire.

"Got to keep on the move here," Wedrington commented to himself, "If I stay still, I'm a goner."

A grenade was thrown in after him, and Wedrington found himself diving away to avoid being killed by the explosion. Wedrington then crashed through the door, which was still there, knocking a soldier attempting to enter the building through the door. Wedrington quickly dashed across the street and into the ruins of another house as the soldiers fired wildly after him. He hoped that Demona was having better success against Marilyn.

The fight between Marilyn and Demona was becoming rather violent as the two chased each other along the shore of the river. Demona was certain that the sorceress couldn't kill her, but she also found that Marilyn had good reflexes and nearly seemed to be as strong as she was. This would make dealing with her more difficult, as it was like fighting a fellow gargoyle with magical powers. All things were equal.

Marilyn's one real advantage was her ability to hover over the battlefield and fire on Demona from above, as she would need something tall to get back into the air. Marilyn quickly resorted to this tactic when she found that Demona's talons were too sharp for her to risk a close in combat.

"I have you now," Marilyn smiled and created an emerald energy cage, hoping to trap Demona in it.

The immortal female managed to dodge the cage, but only just barely, and returned fire with a lightning spell. It wasn't all that powerful, but it did succeed in getting Marilyn back to ground level. Demona then tried to burn the white haired sorceress, to at least prevent her from gathering her senses. She heard Marilyn scream with pain as the flames covered her entirely.

The hope of success was short lived however as the arrival of several rafts on the edge of the river a hundred yards away indicated the arrival of more soldiers. Marilyn managed to blast the flames off of her, and looked back at them and then looked toward Demona.

"They're more of Khan's super soldiers," Marilyn smiled, "You and I are at a draw, but you'll be too weak to beat them, and I doubt your mate can save you again."

Demona growled, but was hesitant to say anything. Their battle wasn't at a draw, Demona sensed that she was winning, but by the time the fight would be truly won, Khan's troops would arrive and shoot her, and possibly Wedrington as well. Their time had run out.

Demona then leaped forward and in a swinging kick knocked Marilyn to the ground. She quickly used a spell of her own to use the earth beneath Marilyn as a temporary shackle and then moved off.

"We will conclude this another time, sorceress," Demona vowed and moved back toward the town, hoping to get to Wedrington before Khan's reinforcements arrived.

Demona found Wedrington leading the anti-Illuminati soldiers that were there on a merry chase through the practically destroyed village. He only stopped to deal with anyone who got too close, but that was it. The process had lead to several unconscious soldiers and the rest of them spread out throughout the village. The sky blue female scaled a nearby wall and began to glide toward Wedrington's position.

Once she got close, she cast a spell that raised the ground behind the white English gargoyle, blocking the pursuing soldiers from firing.

"It is time to go," Demona spoke.

"Did you get her?" Wedrington asked.

"Not permanently," Demona gave a growling sigh, "but she has reinforcements coming that might be able to battle a gargoyle more effectively then these standard anti-Illuminati troops. We'll likely see her again."

**Riverbank**

Marilyn looked up to see a couple of Khan's troop come up to her position, and quickly pulled her out of the mud trap that Demona had left her in.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" the first commando asked.

"I'm fine," Marilyn answered, "although there is something that I must report to Khan about."

"Illuminati defenses are strong?" the commando inquired.

"No," Marilyn smiled, "I crushed them, and the soldiers here will side with Khan. The problem is a blue skinned gargoyle sorceress who apparently holds a grudge against me. We will have to be ready for her.

**Illuminati Bunker**

Demona and Wedrington found themselves back in the Illuminati bunker that they had spent the previous day in, as they waited for a sign that Khan's troops had either moved on, or had at least given up looking for them. Alone with the white male, Demona's thoughts drifted back to what she had been thinking about before dawn before. He remained behind to help because he 'wouldn't leave her'.

"It was very brave of you to return to deal with those soldiers," Demona said after a few moments.

"I promised I would help you, so long as you gave up genocide a method of protecting gargoyles," Wedrington answered, "I would have gone back on my word if I had left and let those soldiers shoot you, regardless of whether or not they could truly 'kill' you. Not to mention that I think we've become more then just allies."

"More?" Demona asked curiously, nervous about what was coming.

"Friends," Wedrington answered nervously, "companions."

The immortal female was slow to answer.

"They way you spoke earlier was more like a gargoyle defending a mate," Demona said slowly after a few moments.

Wedrington only backed away embarrassed, "I'm sorry if I offended you. I think it's some instinct or something of that sort. You've been the only one I've been with since I was transformed."

"You needn't apologize," Demona said sharply, "I have the same instincts, and have been without a truly loving companion since Castle Wyvern was razed by the Vikings… which was partially my own fault. I lost Goliath because of that, and jumped on to Thailog when I met him. I don't know why, especially considering that he had been using me the entire time."

"Some people are like that," Wedrington commented carefully, "regardless of their species. Some people are just needlessly manipulative."

"You aren't," Demona answered as she turned to face him, "and you've stuck around even after learning about my past. My former clan may trust me to reform on some level, but outside of my daughter, none of them would go as far as to invite me in. You've stayed around, and that weighs on my mind, along with the instincts."

"They could invite you back, in time," Wedrington commented.

"That isn't our concern at the moment," Demona said firmly.

Wedrington nodded slowly, and looking visibly nervous.

"I'm not entirely sure where to go from here, though," Wedrington spoke.

"I believe the 'human' term is dating," Demona said weakly after a few moments, "Giving each of us a close companion to be with. Although it may take a little while to get used to it. How rapidly things have changed for me."

Wedrington only nodded in response, while Demona decided to keep quiet on what she had seen in the future. This was only a start, and things could change.

**Tibet**

"She is on her way here?" Khan asked as Marilyn hurriedly finished her report.

"Yes," Marilyn answered, "Likely out of vengeance for the attack on the clan that lived near our base here."

"The Illuminati ordered that attack," Khan's second in command corrected, "Khan hadn't been awakened yet."

"I doubt Demona knows or cares that," Khan commented, "The Illuminati Files on her indicate that she has a history of wanting to protect gargoyles, largely at the expense of the human race. If she is fighting us, we must be ready to counter her moves."

"Of course," the second in command saluted.

Khan then turned to Marilyn, "and you, Marilyn will need to train and practice hard. You are the only one of us at he moment who can directly fight her on a one on one basis."

"I will be ready," Marilyn answered.

"Good," Khan answered, "Now, did she impede our progress in the advance?"

"No," Marilyn told him, "Her sole interest was in me. The advance of your troops was not slowed in the slightest. Sichuan Province is ours, along with the anti-Illuminati troops that were in the province. They, however, will require some additional assurances before they truly decide to follow your banner.

"That can easily be arranged," Khan spoke, "Despite Demona's interference, you have done quite well. Soon, all of China will be ours."

**To be Continued…**


	14. Questing for Honor and Redemption

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place immediately after "Contact".

Questing for Honor and Redemption

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Muli, China, Sichuan Province**

Yama, Yoshi, and the Tibetan adults only just made it to Muli by the time the sun rose. Similar to Dukou the south, the town was heavily damaged by either gunfire or artillery, although it looked as though the main fighting had passed the region. The biggest problem for them was that it appeared that Khan's forces had discovered the secret bunkers that the Illuminati agent Pax had given them.

"They've found our hideouts," a Tibetan female, Shui Lei, spoke nervously, "Where will we sleep?"

"Some of the rooftops appear safe hiding places for now," Je Lu spoke, "Although we may need to take the bunker to wait for Demona and Wedrington to catch up after their fight in Dukou."

Yama didn't say anything, but nodded in agreement. They had to stop Khan's movement across China, and defeating the his followers here might help slow him down. Yama didn't really care much about the Illuminati verses 'free' argument, but he knew that Khan was dishonorable, and that could not stand.

"We should seek out roosting places for the day," Shi La spoke, "We can make our plans for the retaking of this bunker tomorrow night."

The others nodded and began spreading out to take places on the rooftops of a few buildings that had not suffered as much damage as the others. Yoshi to a place next to Yama as they waited for the dawn.

"You're determined already to fight the battle," Yoshi commented.

"We can not be dependent on Demona and her powers to fight these supermen," Yama answered, "Khan will only deliberately force a battle that separates Demona from us to sap the courage of Je Lu's clan. We must show them that we are both honorable and warriors."

"You're really the only one of us who is a warrior," Yoshi commented, "Je Lu's clan has even said that they have no experience with fighting anyone. They've lived in peaceful seclusion for years."

"They will have to learn to fight sometime," Yama answered, "Otherwise we'll never stand a chance."

"It would be better to practice on a dummy before sending them against commandos who are trained, armed, and just as strong as we are," Yoshi advised.

Yama gave a heavy sigh, and before the sun rose answered slowly, "I know, but unfortunately, there is not enough time to train them. Hopefully they're few in…"

He was cut off by the sun rising behind them and the two of them turning to stone.

**Elsewhere**

"You can't do this to us!" a man screamed as several armed soldiers shoved him and several others into the bunker that Je Lu's clan had hopped to take shelter in for the day, "we're innocent!"

"So innocent you joined a secret society from outside China," one soldier growled angrily as two of Khan's supermen supervised the operation.

"We were all only minor members," the man pleaded, "they didn't even tell us to do anything!"

"You're still a part of the oppressors," the soldier answered, "the new government will decide your fate… likely prison or hard labor."

The man was then shoved into the bunker and the door was locked to be used as private cell for the time being. The war between Khan's forces and the Pro-Illuminati Chinese was not a pretty one. While Khan's facilities were producing plenty of supermen to fight on the front lines, maintaining order behind the lines was dependent on the conscripting Anti-Illuminati Chinese, sometimes from the 'rebel' army units to maintain the law. More often, this was becoming a system of revenge and murder for past wrongs, or merely for the people's involvement with the Illuminati. The few supermen that supervised each region's new organization did little to restrain these actions.

"Did you remove all the technology in there?" the soldier then asked one of the supermen who were aiding in the control of the town.

"Everything except the ventilation equipment," the superman answered, "wouldn't want them to die of asphyxiation. The technology was sent Khan in Tibet."

The soldier nodded in agreement. There were things that he wanted, but Khan's forces had freed them from Illuminati oppression, and many of those who weren't in the Illuminati were being called to help form a new government with Khan that would govern China freely. For that, the soldier was willing to let Khan's forces lead. The prisoners they had taken would eventually be taken before Khan and interrogated. If any decided to change sides, they would be freed, if they didn't, Khan would decide their fate.

"When can we expect the transports that will take them to Tibet?" the soldier asked, "We have other work to do."

"Sometime tomorrow night while everything is being consolidated," the superman answered, "but I don't think we'll get much trouble out of them. The Illuminati built these bunkers to be secret. There is only one entrance and exit, and we've rewired the locks so all the controls are out here. You should only require one or two guards working in shifts."

"Suppose they rush the door?" the soldier asked nervously.

"That's what guns are for," the superman smiled, "any violence on their part is not to be tolerated, as it reinforces the Illuminati's will to fight."

The soldier then nodded.

**Tibet**

Meanwhile Khan was reviewing other information that he felt was required. The report he had received from Marilyn that Demona had come to China to make war on him was frustrating to say the least, but that was not his primary concern. While she could potentially cause some trouble, he could easily send his reserves and Marilyn to deal with the gargoyle sorceress, and with his knowledge of the Illuminati's instillations, he could already guess where the immortal female would lead her group to sleep away the day.

It was this that presented the real problem to his war effort. He had so far relied on Marilyn's aid in supporting his main offensives against the Pro-Illuminati forces opposed to him in order to speed up his plans for the conquest of China. Once he had China he could pause to truly organize everything within his domain as the Illuminati would need to pause to regroup and figure out what to do. But, Demona's presence would likely mean that Marilyn could not provide the necessary support, which would slow his advance down.

"We may have to pause our advance," Khan grumbled after a few moments.

"Sir?" came a confused voice from behind him

Khan turned to find his second in command standing there with a slightly puzzled look on his face.

"Do you have something?" Khan questioned.

"Just a minor situation report," his second nodded, "all territorial objectives have been met, and at least two divisions worth of Chinese troops have joined us, perhaps more. The local commanders haven't finished the exact number count yet."

Khan nodded. Some of that would take some time, but his supermen had so far managed to do so, even while fighting their battles with the Pro-Illuminati Chinese. Until they began to have problems with their organization, Khan wasn't about to mess with something that was working.

"Is something troubling you, sir?" his second asked, sounding concerned for a good friend.

"Only Demona's current involvement," Khan sighed, "Marilyn must have really angered the gargoyle during their first engagement and now she's come back for revenge."

"Marilyn has held her own in their battles so far," his second commented, "and we still have some of Merlin's DNA. We could easily make another clone if you wish have one available to fight the Chinese while Marilyn fights Demona."

Khan paused for a moment. The idea could work, but he was concerned that another Merlin 'clone' would reduce his ability to control or manipulate the clone he had already created.

"I will need to speak with Marilyn first on the matter," Khan sighed, "She would still need to train the new clone in the art of sorcery… at least enough to give the Chinese trouble."

"Of course, sir," his second in command nodded.

**Illuminati Headquarters, Unknown Location**

"His main move is toward the south," One commented as much of the Council looked a map that was tracking Khan's movement, "the northern thrust was diversionary."

"He linked up with several rebel units in his northern drive," Five told him nervously, "It's doubtful that our forces in China can overwhelm his positions without weakening their positions against the splintered rebel groups elsewhere in China."

"The rebel groups have no organization," One answered, "the only ones that have organization are the ones that have linked up with Khan already. And besides, we have separate agents elsewhere in China that are securing those areas for us, not the Chinese army."

"But agents like Pax aren't doing much," Three grumbled, "No force while the rebels kill and pillage everything we built for China."

"Pax believes he is insuring lasting peace," Four commented, "if we only crush them by force, they may eventually turn on us again later."

"Let them hate," Three answered, "so long as they also fear us."

"We've already agreed that we will try to accomplish both missions," One spoke sternly, trying to break up the growing argument, "we may have to send more independent agents into China as we need to make some headway against Khan's forces. They can not keep defeating or converting our troops on the frontlines."

"Have our agents there identified who his sorceress is?" Five asked.

"Those on the front lines have not even seen her, and with orders have remained hidden if his sorceress wasn't present," One answered confidently, "but we haven't heard anything from those who were already behind the lines in Tibet. I fear that Khan's men may have already caught them."  
"We need someone stronger," Two said with a sigh, "someone that these supermen can't easily take down."

"What about Demona?" Three then asked, "reports we've received say she's gone to fight Khan. Perhaps we could enlist her aide in this fight."

"According to America's spy satellites she and her group of gargoyles are in the south central portion of China, not far from the front lines of Khan's army," Five reported, "but, I'm afraid that is all we know. She hasn't run into any more of our agents, although it is possible she could have run into Khan's agents."

"We need to make contact with her somehow," Three commented, "she's just as strong as the Mage was in sorcery and is not afraid to use her powers."

"You forget that she hates humanity with a vengeance," Two told him, "I doubt she's just going to decide to help us because she considers herself Khan's enemy. More then likely, Khan did something to those other gargoyles with her, and they ran to her for help."

"We must create a unified front," Three argued, "if we keep assuming that she is our enemy, then we only divide ourselves before Khan's forces."

"I don't think that matters much anymore," One sighed heavily, "if the satellite images are correct, Demona is already behind the front lines of Khan's army. We can not contact her."

"Surely there is something that could be done?" Three questioned.

"We would need to intervene directly," One spoke, "and I'd think that Khan wants that specifically to try and decapitate our organization."

The others sighed heavily as they knew that their only real course of action was something that their enemy likely wanted as part of some larger scheme.

**Tibet**

Khan found Marilyn working in an exercise room to perfect various spells and combat moves, likely to prepare herself for her coming battles with Demona. He paused quietly as she shattered two clay disks with her fists.

"Impressive," Khan spoke calmly.

Marilyn then turned to see Khan standing there and set the various objects she had summoned to be either targets or obstacles on the ground.

"Is there something you require of me?" Marilyn asked in an inquisitive voice and in a manner that made it seem like Marilyn was trying to get something out of Khan's mind.

"You can relax," Khan told her, "while Demona's interference will be troublesome and you will have to stop her… her attack on you has not stopped my plans. For now, we are still working on some plan that will allow our plans to conquer China continue."

If Marilyn relaxed, she didn't show it.

"What do you have in mind?" Marilyn asked.

"Demona's presence will likely keep you away from aiding in any direct drive against the Pro-Illuminati troops at the front, negating their numerical advantages," Khan began.

"Even though they're no longer as extreme as before," Marilyn nodded.

"But it could still be a serious problem if we can not keep the Chinese on their heals," Khan answered, "without you to provide that help, they might be able to begin pushing our forces back, and will likely take swift revenge on the people that have joined us so far."

"But if Demona is ignored, she could glide right up to our front door and crush all our plans in one fell swoop," Marilyn pointed out.

Khan nodded in agreement.

"Which is why the current idea was developed," Khan spoke, "What would you say to the creation of another clone of Merlin?"

Marilyn paused for a moment before responding.

"You're asking my permission?" Marilyn asked and waited for Khan to nod, "It may be doable, but if we are to create another sorcerer it might be better to obtain some other genetic template. Much of what was done with Merlin's DNA sample removed his Y chromosome for some reason. Tampering with it more might cause unforeseen problems, and I really don't want another 'me' moving around."

"And what other template is available?" Khan questioned, "the Illuminati Council hides behind its bureaucracy, and the few members that we've found weren't all that powerful."

"She's closer then you think," Marilyn said with a wicked smile, "If you can give me a little time to get you the blood sample."

Khan looked at her suspiciously but sighed, "Very well. You have a week."

**Muli, Dusk**

Yama and Yoshi awoke to greet the new night to find that little had changed. The town was riddled with half destroyed buildings and the sounds of screaming people could be heard through the locked door to the bunker they had intended to take shelter in when they and the other Tibetan gargoyles arrived in Muli. The positive thing for the two Japanese gargoyles was that the fires in the town had been put out and that there was no one attempting to get them. The bunker was still guarded and there were still soldiers about, but none of them focusing on them.

"They haven't moved their prisoners," Yama commented with some surprise in his voice.

"That would be a good thing, wouldn't it?" Yoshi commented, "You have your chance to rescue them."

"I had thought that they would move them during the day," Yama replied, "We'd best gather the others and make some sort of plan before we free Khan's prisoners here."

Yoshi nodded and began following Yama as the Japanese exile began moving toward where the locations where the various Tibetan gargoyles had moved to sleep for the day. Gathering them was not all that difficult, and the first thing on everyone's mind was what to do next. Although, Je Lu and his clan were not that enthusiastic abut Yama's idea about engaging in a battle without Demona.

"How many guards are present?" Je Lu questioned.

"There are only two outside the bunker," Yama answered, "most of the troops here seem to be patrolling the streets. We can get their prisoners free easily if we move quickly."

"And you're certain they appear to only be normal soldiers?" Shi La asked, "the supermen appear like normal humans on the outside as well."

"It doesn't matter," Yama growled, "what they're doing is wrong. Are you willing to let those innocents die?"

"No," Je Lu answered, "but if Khan is defeated, they will be safe anyway, and we need Demona to defeat him… especially since my clan has no experience in combat."

"Then it is time to learn," Yama answered, "Demona with all her magic can not just make you martial artists. You must take those steps yourselves."

There was an awkward silence as Yama, clearly, was not going to back down. Eventually, the Japanese exile added to what he had just said.

"But if you will not move to help those innocent people," Yama continued, "then I will go myself."

Je Lu and Shi La exchanged nervous glances and then looked at Yama again. He looked fierce and determined. Both Tibetan leaders knew that Yama was serious about his plan.

"Gor Mai and I will go with you to free their prisoners," Je Lu said with a defeated sigh, "the rest will remain on the rooftops to provide cover."

"Yoshi will stay with them," Yama nodded, "he can help lay out any plans to cover us, should there be trouble."

Je Lu nodded and waited for the Tibetan male he had called on to come forward. The rest moved to gather around Shi La and Yoshi. Once everyone was together, they quickly took to the air to head back to the Illuminati bunker.

Meanwhile, outside the door to the bunker, the two soldiers on guard stood quietly gazing out in front of them. But boredom was taking its toll.

"When is the truck going to get here?" the first guard asked nervously.

"Shortly, I think," the second told him, "I overheard something on the radio about a rockslide in the mountains. They likely had to wait for the road to be cleared."

The first guard only sighed and looked back out to the quiet street in front of them. There was no sign of activity on the streets. A light or two could be seen from some of the buildings, but the guard couldn't tell if one of the other 'rebel' soldiers was there or if it was a civilian dwelling.

"It's been quiet so far today," the second guard commented, "do you think the Illuminati will be able to hold out for long?"

"I wouldn't think so," the first answered, "from the recorded speech we heard of Khan's, I think the man is too smart to lose or even have a lengthy fight. This will be over before the next 'Western' New Year."

There was a slight rumbling in the distance that sounded like a truck engine.

"The truck is nearly here," the second guard spoke, and was then startled by a roar that made both guards look up.

They looked up to see three creatures diving down on them. Two resembled dragons, while the third resembled some sort of demon, although his clothing seemed Japanese in style. They had no time to even raise their weapons as Yama landed on the shoulders of the first guard while Je Lu landed in front of and then kicked the second guard. The blows quickly knocked the two humans out, and they slumped to the ground. Gor Mai, meanwhile landed and approached the door.

"Solid steel," Gor Mai reported tapping on the door, "and locked."

"Break it down," Yama urged, "and quickly. The truck that is supposed to take them isn't that far."

Gor Mai sighed and then slammed his talons into the edges of the door and pulled back with all his might. The frame soon broke and he was left holding the door in the air. Je Lu, meanwhile, turned to make his way into the bunker. The people inside were likely Chinese, and he hoped they would respond well to him.

"Hello?" Je Lu ventured as he made his way down a flight of stairs into the bunker, which had supposed to be unknown to anyone else, "Is anyone alive down here?"

He was greeted by several people who all looked very hungry as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"A dragon!" one spoke in surprise, "we're saved!"

"Saved, yes," Je Lu replied, "but I am a gargoyle, not a dragon. Do you need help out?"

"We need help getting away from the rebels and Khan's men," one woman spoke, "they have no sense of reason. Can you fly us there?"

"I can only glide," Je Lu answered, "and my clan is moving toward Tibet."

"Why?" a man gasped as he backed away.

"Khan drove my clan from our home there," Je Lu answered slowly, "we had to get our hatchlings to safety before we could return to fight him."

On the ground level, Yama and Gor Mai continued to wait patiently, although the sound of the approaching truck was getting loader.

"The truck is getting closer!" Yama yelled down the staircase.

As he finished, a large truck came around an hit a nearby corner and stopped in front of them. The driver and passenger in the cab were totally socked and couldn't respond. Yama quickly leaped at the door and pulled the driver out of his seat.

"Make sure there are no soldiers in the back!" Yama yelled at Gor Mai, "They could sound an alarm!"

Yama then threw the driver to the ground, knocking him out and rushing the passenger who was trying to get out the other side. Yama caught the man before he could get out and the result was the man falling to the ground with Yama landing on top of him. The Japanese exile quickly knocked him out before looking up to see two men armed with rifles staring back at him.

Yoshi and the Tibetan gargoyles watched in horror as Yama was forced to take the truck's door and Gor Mai dove down the staircase to the bunker to avoid being shot several times by at least six solders who had come out of the back of the truck.

"We must disarm them quickly," Yoshi spoke urgently.

"I knew we should we should have waited for Demona," Shi La grumbled as they then dove before they dove down toward the soldiers.

The soldiers who had begun firing on Yama ad Gor Mai were not looking up, which gave Yama and Je Lu's back up an advantage that the soldiers didn't enjoy, height and visibility. A few of them did recover in time to avoid being knocked out, but every one of the soldiers had lost their weapon, and most of the confiscated weapons were destroyed.

"Now is your chance, Yama," Yoshi called down to the Japanese exile, "Show them what bushido is!"

Yama smiled confidently and lunged forward. He caught the first man with a flying kick and knocked the second back with one of his wings. The move took him to the end of the truck, and he saw that the other four soldiers had chased after Gor Mai.

"You winged freaks won't win," the superman vowed, "Khan will beat you!"

The man then swung his legs in a sweeping motion, taking Yama's feet out from under him.

"Or maybe, **I** will beat you!" the man smiled triumphantly.

Yama only thrust out with his legs to land a kick that sent the man flying into a nearby building, shattering glass as he went through a window.

"You talk too much," Yama grumbled and glanced to check the situation.

Je Lu and Gor Mai were holding two superman attacking the entrance to the bunker, although just barely, while the rest were occupied with Yoshi, Shi La, and several other Tibetan gargoyles diving on them to keep them distracted. The one of the other supermen landed a backhanded blow that sent on of the Tibetan females into Yama as he advanced on the ground toward the fight. He quickly helped her into a sitting position.

"Are you alright?" Yama asked.

"I am uninjured," the female answered, "but we need help."

"I will provide it," Yama answered firmly and rushed the closest superman, who was distracted by a glancing blow landed by another member of Je Lu's clan.

Yama caught him by surprise and slammed him face first into the side of the truck, knocking the man out, and attracting the attention of the man in the area. He quickly saw that Yama was a confident warrior that wasn't about to rely on numbers and his wings to keep him safe. He was quite willing to fight.

"Gunner, Snipe, we need to go," the superman commented.

The supermen identified as 'Gunner' and 'Snipe' then turned to see the one who had spoke leap over a punch thrown at him by Yama and then use the roof of the cab of the truck to leap onto the rooftops and flee. Seeing they were outnumbered, they quickly turned and ran in the direction the truck was pointed, leaving the area to Yama and the Tibetan gargoyles. It was then that Je Lu began leading the prisoners that Khan's followers had taken out of the bunker.

"You can likely take this truck to get away from Khan's forces," Je Lu spoke as he motioned to the vehicle.

"If one of you can drive it," Yoshi spoke as the others landed.

"I think I can," one man spoke slowly as the freed prisoners began slowly getting into the truck, "thank you."

"We were glad to help," Je Lu spoke to him as the man climbed in behind the wheel and started the engine.

They then watched as the truck slowly lurched forward along the road and rounding corner to head in a eastward direction. Yama stood triumphantly watching the results of the battle and then gave a relieved sigh.

"Things went well," Je Lu then said to the Japanese exile, "although you seemed quite driven."

"It is part of my mission," Yama answered, "I must atone for my transgressions against my clan. It is a question of honor."

"This seems very important to you," Shi La commented from where she stood, "You help our clan for this reason?"

"To restore my honor by fighting some evil?" Yama nodded, "Yes. Honor is important to my clan, and in my past mistakes, I dishonored myself. By fighting Khan, I have a shot at restoring my honor as well as stopping the his evil."

The Tibetans present did not answer immediately.

"I'm sure that Yama would fight by your side now that he has met you and you have explained your problem to him, even if he didn't feel he need to restore his honor," Yoshi tried to explain, "Yama has always been sensitive to many things considered wrong or bad."

"We thank you," Gor Mai spoke, "for whatever reasons you have."

Yama nodded, "we'd best move on. I doubt we can use this bunker now."

The others were quick to nod and they quickly began searching or a wall to scale and begin gliding to a safer place.

**Later**

Demona and Wedrington didn't arrive until near dawn, and both were surprised to find the others waiting for them on a hilltop with some trees obscuring most of the view.

"Khan's men took over the bunker?" Demona asked after Je Lu finished explaining.

"Yes," Je Lu nodded, "and would have carried off at least twenty people if not for Yama's courage to confront Khan's troops."

"Khan could also likely know the locations of the other bunkers that Pax mapped out for us," Yoshi answered, "We may need to find more remote sleeping areas… or spread out."

The immortal female sighed heavily. She and Wedrington were just rejoining the group after the fight with Marilyn forced them to stay an extra day in Dukou. The fact that Je Lu's group had run into trouble was a bit of a surprise that she was not prepared for.

"At least you won," Wedrington spoke up, "and everyone's safe."

Everyone then nodded in agreement.

"Especially good, as I'd assume the road will become even more rocky as we get closer to Khan's base," Demona told them in a firm and almost 'nervous' voice.

**Illuminati Headquarters, Hours Later**

Three and Two stood quietly as they read a report that had just come in.

"These gargoyles are starting to prove quite useful," Three commented, "They've rescued half a dozen of our agents from Khan's troops."

"And several others that merely happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," Two nodded.

"We must find a way to contact them," Three urged.

"And how will we do that?" Two questioned, "the leading agent that they freed reported no radio equipment on them and that they were already headed to fight Khan. We have no means to contact them, and even if we did, I don't think we have the need to contact them."

"It's a matter of organization," Three sighed, "Make sure we're all on the same page and insure that this isn't part of some genocidal plan on Demona's part."

Two nodded, "I doubt that is true, but I do understand where you're coming from."

The two men were silent for a moment before Two spoke again.

"Although, I think with Demona's presence behind Khan's lines, I think we might finally get some breaks in the war against Khan," Two finished.

**Tibet**

Khan stood quietly beside Marilyn as the newest clone was activated from its cloning chamber. He had a good suspicion of who it was that Marilyn had cloned, but he wanted some explanation first.

"Khan, I present you with the tool that will allow us to divide our attention between China and Demona," Marilyn spoke confidently, "he isn't all that bright, but he is powerful in magic and instinctively knows all the magic he will need. I present you with Damien."

Khan then watched as a sage brown male gargoyle with white wings came out and stood before him.

"My Lords," Damien spoke in a deep voice and bowed to both Khan and Marilyn.

**To Be Continued…**


	15. Attack of the Clones

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place one week after "Questing for Honor and Redemption".

Attack of the Clones

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Tibet**

"As you can see, my Lord," one of Khan's supermen officers reported as he pointed to map showing their line of advance, "we now control a swath of territory running from Ejin in Nei Mongol Zihiqu province to Chengu and then to Chongqing in Sichuan province to Guiyang in Guizhou province to Kunming and then to Jiangcheng in Yunnan province. We have made rapid progress in our advance to conquer China from the Illuminati."

Khan slowly nodded. The territorial gains made in the last week were good, but he had already written of the Illuminati presence in China. Their defeat was a matter of time, as some of the details in their recent advance would actually show.

"I would advise caution, though," a Chinese officer who was one of the leading figures in the various anti-Illuminati forces that had joined his army alongside his genetically engineered supermen, "Most of this advance has come because the Illuminati has been pulling their forces back, probably to lay some sort of trap or draw up a defensible line between us and Beijing."

"You think they've set a trap?" Khan's second asked.

"It could be he only explanation how we gained so much territory without them even firing a shot," the Chinese officer answered, "if they felt over extended or beaten, they'd at least perform a fighting withdrawal to insure that we pay for every mile of territory gained."

"And that is a standard tactic," Khan nodded, "Until I give further notice we are to pause all our attacks. Besides, we still have many new anti-Illuminati factions to bring in since our latest expansion. We might as well consolidate power in these areas before we begin the next campaign to silence the Illuminati."

"Of course," came a unified answer from the officers present.

Khan then quietly waited while most of the officers left the room, leaving him with his Second in Command and with Marilyn, who had not said anything during the meeting. Once they had left, Marilyn was the one to speak.

"The real battle is with Demona," Marilyn spoke, "not with the Chinese or with the Illuminati. They're still distracted with various pockets of anti-Illuminati resistance throughout China, and some of it coming from their army. Their attention is divided while that gargoyle's is solely focused on us."

"Where is her group?" Khan asked, "do we have their location?"

"Our captured drones have come up with images of them near the town of Gonjo," the Second in Command reported, "I think Demona has been trying to avoid the main supply lines of our army… but I'm not sure why."

"Most likely to focus entirely on us," Khan answered, "the leaders, which makes her more dangerous then the Illuminati. They have to kill the body in order to get at us, but Demona intends to strike at the leaders without even exhausting herself with our followers."

Both his Second in Command and Marilyn nodded in agreement.

"Therefore it is obvious that we take direct steps against her," Khan answered, "but, for the time being, I'd like Demona to retain the illusion that we can not strike at her or her allies during the day for a short period of time. It may draw her in to a position where we will gain an easier advantage…"

"It'd still be good to whittle her numbers down a bit," Marilyn spoke, "she is powerful in magic, and with her gargoyle strength to augment it, our troops are outclassed against her, and even I have been pushed to the edge of my own abilities."

"Which is why in the coming battle, I want to test Damien against her," Khan spoke, "see how she reacts to seeing a gargoyle with her exact same powers."

"And he is likely to be stronger given his gender," the Second in Command mused.

Khan nodded, "but mostly this is a test of his powers through sorcery. Marilyn, I would like you to go with him, just in case Demona gains the upper hand. You will be responsible for getting him out, should that happen."

"We'll go as soon as he awakens for the night," Marilyn answered, "and then I'm sure Demona will be in for one nasty shock."

**Gonjo, Xizang Zizhiqu (Tibet) Province**

Demona and the gargoyles with her awoke to find that they were still in the empty bunker they had found at the end of the previous night. Their advance had been slow and cautious since their discovery that Khan knew where the Illuminati bunkers were. So far though, they had only found out that Khan's troops did not stay in bunkers that they had taken. The bunkers had been stripped of anything that they could use. Computer equipment, food, weaponry, even articles of clothing were gone. That left others being dependent on Demona's powers through sorcery to deal with what they were lacking.

"It doesn't look like they found us," a Tibetan female named Mei spoke.

"More then likely, they simply didn't come back for us," Demona grumbled, "Khan knows about these bases… I don't know how… whether or not he suspects we are using them is a different matter."

"Should we keep using them, then?" Shi La asked, "If Khan knows about these bases, he might be checking them. Even if he doesn't know we're using them to sleep in, he might find us accidentally."

"But why would they come back here?" Wedrington commented, "they've stripped this place bare. If they do come back, they'd have to know where we are beforehand, which raises different questions."

Demona nodded in agreement with Wedrington, silently proud at how much the transformed archeologist had learned how to think like a warrior. She silently mused to herself that she was rubbing off on him. But for the time being, she couldn't dwell on that. They were yet to reach the Tibetan clan's old, and likely destroyed home, which meant that they couldn't begin searching for Khan's base yet.

"How much further do we have to go?" Demona turned to Je Lu, trying to get the discussion back on a more goal oriented line of thought.

"We just passed Gonjo on our way to this base," Je Lu spoke, "So, we have entered Tibet, but the monastery was in a location that is far more remote and to the northwest of our present position. At gliding speed, and at that rate we are traveling, it'd be several weeks before we get there."

That raised a heavy sigh from all present. The recent battles had convinced Demona that trying to move quickly would only invite more battles and risk destroying their entire plan before they could get close enough to Khan to stop him. This had lead to some rivalry with Yama, who was driven to defeat Khan's supermen at nearly every opportunity.

Demona did not pretend to understand Yama's concept of 'bushido', but she did respect that the Japanese exile for his drive to carry out his mission. Her problem was mostly in trying to define how certain tactical and strategic decisions were honorable, which she had trouble with.

"Can you tell if there any troops nearby?" Yama asked as he approached the immortal female gargoyle.

"No," Demona answered, "and even if I did, fighting them wouldn't do much. Remember, that what must remove Khan from the field. Without him, his supermen will fall apart without their leader."

"Of course," Yama sighed, doing little to hide the fact that he was looking for a fight.

**Beijing**

Meanwhile, China's premier sat quietly as his generals, all Illuminati members continued to argue over strategy. A lot of it was becoming more and more difficult to bear as the lists of people killed or defected came in, and the fact that army was so heavily involved in fighting anti-Illuminati forces behind the lines that Khan's troops were still able to advance. All of it depressed him heavily.

"Are you paying attention, sir?" the commanding general asked after a few moments.

"Yes," the Premier answered with a heavy sigh, "just thinking back to happier days. You may continue your briefing."

The commanding general and then turned to a map of China hanging behind him. Drawn across the country in red was the line that indicated Khan's present advance and scattered throughout the region that the pro-Illuminati troops controlled were small pockets, drawn in green, that represented anti-Illuminati activity.

"We originally thought that Khan was trying to move toward Beijing directly, but recent recon has shown that his current target is more economic then political in nature," the commanding general reported, "given that most of his supermen have moved in a largely southeastern direction toward Macao, Canton, and Hong Kong."

"I take it this is why we've pulled back from many sectors near the front?" the premier questioned.

"Yes, largely to build up our defenses in the area," the commanding general answered, "when Khan attacks toward those cities, he will hit stiff resistance, which he hasn't faced so far, because of the side war with these anti-Illuminati groups. But, since the only group of anti-Illuminati forces in the region are isolated on the island of Hainan, they can not help Khan take the major cities of Canton, Macao, and Hong Kong."

"Can we maintain some defensive formation around Beijing?" the premier asked, "there are more anti-Illuminati groups in the northern provinces."

"Largely, yes," the commanding officer nodded, "although mostly because pulled back so much. We now have a shorter line to defend which reduces the need for massive troop formations elsewhere."

"And what of this strange woman that has been leading Khan's forces in the field?" the premier questioned.

"She hasn't been seen over the past few days," the commanding general sighed, "we are hoping she doesn't return, but we are getting the guns together needed to shoot her down when she does."

"That's the best we can do?" the premier asked.

"For the moment," the commanding general spoke.

"Very well," the premier sighed heavily, sensing that regardless of who won the coming battles, things would not be good, "you may continue, but let me know when the battle begins."

The premier then slowly left the room and moved out to look out a window. The view had not improved much. The debris from the initial riots had been cleared away, but with most of the troops being drawn to the battlefront, the damage that had been done by the anti-Illuminati rioters had not been repaired or removed.

"You seem unfocused," came a voice from a different of the hallway he had entered.

The premier turned to see the man who directly represented the Illuminati Council approaching him. The man seemed to be everywhere in the present conflict, and that the premier wonder as to whether or not the Illuminati had China's best interests in mind. He heard rumors that they had recently starting causing trouble in Britain as well as dealing with Khan's trouble in China.

"I'm not a military man," the premier answered, "and as I've told you before, I'm doing this try and improve everyone's life, not conquer it… and it seems that this war with Khan is more about conquest then anything else."

"Khan seeks to do evil," the Illuminati representative spoke, "you should know that."

"I'm not arguing that," the premier answered, "I just do not like the fighting. Nothing we've done is working… there has to be another way… a way that doesn't kill so many people."

"Maybe not with the death of many, but beginning with the death of one," the Illuminati told him with a slight smile.

"What are you talking about?" the premier asked nervously.

"I'm telling you that you have allies," the Illuminati representative told him, "partners who are out to stop Khan at all costs."

"Which country have you talked into intervening in a 'Chinese' affair?" the premier questioned, "Russia? The United States?"

"Not a country, an individual," the Illuminati representative answered, "a gargoyle named Demona."

"A gargoyle? Aren't they those creatures that America can't control?" the premier asked, trying to put together what he had heard over earlier news reports on the international scene.

"Yes, but Demona doesn't truly belong to that clan," the Illuminati representative spoke, "and for some reason she knows about and has some grudge against Khan. So she is here."

"I doubt she his here to really help the Illuminati, then," the premier gave a depressed sigh.

The Illuminati representative nodded in agreement, "her motives are not the Council's concern for the moment. The defeat of Khan is."

**Super Puma Helicopter, over Tibet**

Damien looked quietly out of the Eurocopter AS 532 Cougar EC 725 Cougar RESCO as it flew over the mountainous terrain of the province that Khan's forces. Khan had designs for equipment that would be all their own, but for the most part they would have to settle for using Chinese equipment that they had captured or had received as part of the defections of anti-Illuminati Chinese factions. The French built helicopter was among them.

"I don't know why we're going this way," the male clone grumbled, "You could easily teleport, and I can glide. We do not need this contraption."

"True," Marilyn answered him, "but would take time for you to glide there, and I believe Khan wants fast results… which even with our powers we can not provide quickly if we are to also take your back up along."

Marilyn then gestured to a squad of Chinese troops that had joined Khan's forces. Damien paid little attention to them, as he sensed that the humans were scared of him.

"And remember, Damien," Marilyn then spoke in a much firmer voice, "we are in a position to win great power. If we win, we will share it with Khan over much of the world. If we fight amongst ourselves for personal power, we'll either destroy each other, or Demona will destroy us."

"I mean no disrespect, my Lady," Damien answered, "I merely feel that if Khan wants to test me against Demona, that we could handle the mission ourselves. Let the soldiers deal with the Illuminati and the Chinese."

"That phase is taking a slight break while we reorganize and prepare for the final push on Hong Kong," Marilyn told him, "which leaves us with Demona to deal with. Besides, she has a clan of gargoyles supporting her. We'll need the extra muscle."

Damien nodded. With that over, Marilyn turned to the helicopter's pilot who was seated ahead of them.

"Do you see anything?" Marilyn asked the pilot.

"Nothing but the mountains, ma'am," the pilot answered, "Perhaps Demona's forces are moving at a slower pace as they approach our headquarters."

"Maybe," Marilyn commented, "just stay alert. Demona might try to take down the helicopter using sorcery if we get too close."

"Of course," the pilot answered.

Not that far away, the small group of gargoyles made their way over the terrain. They glided wherever possible, but from time to time, the winds lead them to mountains that were higher in elevation then the level they were gliding at, and there wasn't enough of a cross wind for them to glide around it. So they would land on the mountain and walk around it until they got to the other side.

The trip was not easy. Wedrington, Yama, and Yoshi were not used to the thin air at the high elevations that made up Tibet, and as a result felt slightly out of breath. It wasn't that much of picnic for Demona, either, but she felt her 'immortality' gave her some help, but she also knew that it was mostly a matter of coping. People had been living in Tibet for many years. If humans could adapt, she was certain that gargoyles could adapt.

"Did you hear something?" Yoshi asked as they all walked down a narrow path around the sound of a mountain they were on.

"Hear what?" Wedrington asked back, as he found his hearing restricted by the winds blowing around them.

"It sounded faintly like a helicopter," Yoshi answered, "Didn't you hear it?"

"I couldn't hear anything over this wind," Wedrington admitted.

"I think I might have heard it…" Je Lu commented, "but it's likely only a transport helicopter. The fighting has left this area. Khan should have any reason to have attack helicopters here."

Demona nodded agreement from her position on the path. As she took a few more steps, however, her feelings of confidence instantly evaporated when a lightning bolt came out of nowhere and knocked a large boulder down into the path they were walking on.

"What the devil…?" Demona gasped in surprise.

"Speak of the devil, and she appears," came Marilyn's voice, taunting the sky blue female.

"You!" Demona growled angrily.

Demona was about to attack when Marilyn snapped her fingers and a squad of Chinese infantrymen appeared on a path twenty feet above the path that the gargoyles were on.

"As much as I would like to crush you, I'm afraid that tonight you'll have to tangle with someone else," Marilyn said with a confident smile.

"Your human servants don't frighten me," Demona growled back while the rest of the Tibetan gargoyles recovered and readied for an attack.

"Good, because they aren't here to fight you," came a new male voice, that sounded strangely familiar to Demona, but she couldn't place it.

Their shock was not over as a sage brown male gargoyle climbed on top of the rock that Marilyn had knocked in front of him. Demona was startled by his appearance, but was only inclined to growl at the new gargoyle. It was Wedrington who actually noticed something about this new arrival.

"Demona, doesn't that male look a little familiar to you?" Wedrington asked.

"I've never seen that male before," Demona answered.

"That's because he is the opposite gender of the one we took the DNA from!" Marilyn laughed.

That made something click in Demona's mind.

"He's a clone?" Demona asked.

"With a little genetic modification to insure I am male," Damien growled in a low voice, "mother."

"WHAT!?" Demona roared, eyes glowing.

Damien didn't give Demona the benefit of an answer and dove at the immortal female. He tackled the sky blue female around the waist an drove her off the edge of the path they were on. Wedrington gave a gasp of shock and then dove after the two gargoyles. Meanwhile, the Chinese soldiers opened fire with their weapons forcing the rest of the Tibetan gargoyles to scramble back in search of cover.

Marilyn merely levitated herself higher into the air and activated a small communicator.

"The battle has begun," Marilyn spoke.

Damien's attack sent both the clone and Demona down several feet until they landed hard on a rocky ledge about thirty feet below where the rest of the clan was battling the Chinese soldiers. Demona took the worst of the landing as she felt one of her wing bones audibly snap upon impacting a rock. As she climbed back to her feet she glared angrily at gargoyle that called her 'mother'.

"I only have one child," Demona growled, "You are not her."

"Maybe," Damien answered, "but I am YOU, if you were male, that is."

"Impossible," Demona growled and sent out a lighting spell at Damien.

"No, it's true," Damien answered, "all Khan's geneticists had to do was remove one X chromosome from your blood sample and insert a Y chromosome that carried no other genetic markers other then gender… allowing your DNA to generate a male clone. Not easy, I assure you, but doable."

Demona only growled and hurled a rock at Damien, hoping to set him up for something more sophisticated, but the clone jumped into the air and hit Demona with a lightning spell of his own. That spell hit her in the chest and threw her against the side of the mountain.

"And this was way to easy," Damien said with a confident.

His confidence evaporated when Wedrington's voice cut into the fight.

"Leave her alone!" Wedrington gave a protective roar and slashed out at Damien with his own talons.

Damien managed to dodge in time to avoid a serious injury, but Wedrington, did leave some claw marks in his shoulder, and made the clone seem to pivot around in the air. That allowed Demona the time to cast her own lightning spell again, which sent Damien tumbling away for the moment while Wedrington returned to her side.

"Did he tell you how they did this?" Wedrington asked.

"No," Demona growled, "but they must have gotten MY blood from somewhere."

"Your wing is broken," Wedrington spoke, noticing the injured wing.

"It'll heal at sunrise," Demona shrugged that off, "right now we have bigger problems."

Above them, Je Lu and the others clung to the side of the mountain, trying to duck under the hail of bullets fired at them by the Chinese soldiers. Above the soldiers, Marilyn remained still, not doing anything.

"Why isn't that witch doing anything?" Shi La questioned a bullet bounced off a rock near her right foot and went off into the air behind them.

"I don't know," Yoshi commented, "but so long as she is doing nothing, I'd suggest we deal with these soldiers before they kill us."

The Japanese librarian then thrust his talons into the side of the mountain and pulled out a palm sized rock and heaved it at one of Chinese soldiers. The rock didn't hit the soldier he was aiming at, but it made him stoop shooting to dodge the rock.

"Throw the rocks at them!" Yoshi urged, "it might distract them long enough to let some of us climb up there!"

Yoshi repeated the process again as various Tibetan gargoyles joined in, sending baseball sized rocks flying at the Chinese soldiers. Again, the thrown rocks did little more then distract the soldiers, but they did allow Je Lu, Yama, and four other Tibetan males to climb up the side of the cliff they were on.

Je Lu was the first to reach the level that the Chinese soldiers were on, and despite the fact that he didn't have Demona's experience or Yama's training, he could see that the Chinese soldiers were frightened of him. He then rushed their position, knocking one down onto the next level down on the other side of the boulder that Marilyn had sent down, and landing one strong punch against another before Yama and the others arrived.

Yama landed a flying kick that knocked two soldiers out, and the others managed to rush the remaining soldiers, although they had recovered by now and they fired a few shots, that kept them from delivering a knockout blow against them. One of the males was nicked by a bullet that went by his shoulder, and then through one wing membrane. Je Lu wanted move to help the others, when he was hit in the tail by a round fired the soldier that had been knocked down to the lower path.

"Shi La, get the last soldier," Je Lu called down, "he's behind the boulder. I'll distract him.

On that lower level, Shi La nodded, and ignoring her concern for her wounded mate began to scale the boulder that had been knocked in front of them. She also watched as more rocks were thrown down where Je Lu had told her where the soldier was. She found the Chinese soldier shielding himself with his helmet and rifle. She then dove on the man and sliced the gun in half with her talons before slapping the man in the face with her tail. That finally knocked the soldier out.

Above everything, Marilyn quietly watched as the battles continued. A few of the Tibetan gargoyles, had been wounded, but the Chinese soldiers proved to be little more then a distraction… although that had been expected. Further down, Damien was dueling with Demona and Wedrington. Demona appeared to have broken wing and Wedrington was doing his best to keep Damien from just bombarding the immortal female from a distance, but the sage brown clone seemed more interested in a physical battle then using sorcery. Marilyn wondered if that was something that related to his species or whether or not Demona's full reputation as a sorceress was entirely deserved.

But, then, that was not really her concern as so far, Damien seemed to be holding his own. If he preferred to be physical, that was his decision. Marilyn remained still. If the Tibetan gargoyles finished their fight soon, she might be forced to engage them, or pull away to give Damien the time to win his fight, or she would have to end Damien's fight prematurely. She hadn't decided which course of action to take.

Wedrington ducked down as Damien made another diving attack, casting a few minor lightning spells as he went over, but these weren't accurate. The only concern with these that Wedrington had, was that he might be trying to destroy the ledge they were on.

"There's got to be something we can do to get at him," Wedrington grumbled as he watched Damien circle above them.

"You'll have to get close and slow him down," Demona spoke, "I can cast lightning spells or levitate rocks at him, but with this busted wing, I can't glide, which means I'm next to useless unless he slows down so I can hit him."

Wedrington had little room to argue as he was forced to dodge a lightning spell that ended up landing between him and Demona.

"Here goes nothing," Wedrington muttered and leaped from the ledge, but it would take awhile for him to gain the momentum to begin gliding again.

Damien, fortunately for Wedrington, ignored the white lion-like English gargoyle and kept his attack focused on Demona. He teleported several hand grenades from the unconscious soldiers above him and pulled the pin out of each and dropped them toward Demona. Demona was forced to leap up and begin trying to scale the mountain to get away from grenades. She managed to get away from the explosions, but couldn't get away from a lightning bolt that Damien sent into the middle of her back. Demona roared with pain and fell back on the ledge and didn't move.

"And now to finish you!" Damien said triumphantly as be prepared to unleash the most powerful spell he could think of while Demona was trying to recover.

"NO!" Wedrington roared as he finally gained the air speed needed to glide and returned to the fight.

His attack caught Damien by surprise as he dove down and lunged at the sage brown clone, and knocked him face first into the side of the mountain. The attack stunned Damien long enough for Demona to get back to her feet.

"I think it is time to finish you," Demona growled, "clone."

Demona then summoned a spear to thrust into Damien's chest when a bright flash of light stopped all of them. When the light faded away, Demona looked to see Wedrington standing beside her and Marilyn hovering above her with Damien over her shoulder.

"I thank you for providing us with this test, Demona," Marilyn said with a smile, "I'm sure Khan has found it most informative."

And with that, Marilyn vanished from sight with Damien, leaving Demona and Wedrington on the ledge. Demona looked rather enraged that she was unable to kill the gargoyle clone.

"It's happened again," Demona growled.

"Again?" Wedrington asked.

"Someone has cloned me, again," Demona growled, "I know you can't understand, but know that I do not like clones."

"It is kinda freaky," Wedrington nodded, "but at least Damien's been altered somewhat to be a male clone. No one would suspect him of being you at first glance. And if Khan sent him out here to battle you as a test of his powers, I'm sure you'll get another shot at him."

Demona nodded, not saying a word. The two then slowly began to climb back to where Je Lu and his clan was. They found them all recovering from the battle they had just gone through. There were no injuries that would require serious medical attention, but many in the group had take some minor bullet wounds.

"Is everyone alright?" Wedrington asked.

"About as well as one can be after getting caught in a firefight with nothing to shoot back with," Yama spoke as he rubbed a spot on his leg where a bullet had run along the side his leg.

Demona then noted that she wasn't the only one to sustain injuries.

"Do we need to stop?" Demona asked.

"I think we can continue," Je Lu said weakly, "but it will need to be slow. And on foot."

"We'll have to, with a broken wing I won't be able to glide until tomorrow night," Demona spoke.

"Where are the soldiers?" Wedrington wondered as he noticed that none of them where present.

"Marilyn saved them once we'd knocked them all out, much like she saved Damien from Demona," Shi La spoke, "made this whole thing very strange."

"All of this was a test," Demona growled in an agitated voice, "Marilyn had no intention of fighting an all out fight to win. She and Khan were testing that clone…"

"Thankfully, the clone was beaten," Wedrington reminded the immortal female, calming Demona slightly.

"We'd best keep going," Demona said after a few moments, and began walking along the path again.

**Khan's Base, Hours Later**

Khan stood by quietly observing the Chinese soldiers being carried on stretcher's to the base's medical center. When Marilyn returned taking Damien's stone form to his sleeping chamber, he waited for her report.

"How did they fare?" Khan asked.

"The soldiers provided a good distraction," Marilyn answered, "although, once the gargoyles got close, they couldn't compete with their strength. If we are to battle them at close quarters, the men will need to be armed with swords, or we'll need to leave the gargoyles to the supermen."

Khan nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Damien did fairly well against Demona," Marilyn then continued, "although much of the fight was shaped by specific conditions. Demona had help from a white English gargoyle, which reduced Damien's effectiveness, but he also broke one of Demona's wings in the initial attack which gave him an advantage over Demona individually."

"So I take it this other gargoyle was able to defeat Damien, or at least distracted him from defeating Demona," Khan surmised.

"Yes," Marilyn nodded.

"We might need to separate Demona from her followers if we are to stand a chance of victory then," Khan mused, "although, such an action will be fairly complex."

"Both Damien and I will be ready," Marilyn answered.

"Good," Khan smiled.

**To Be Continued…**


	16. Falls

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place two weeks after "Attack of the Clones".

Falls

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Canton, Guangdong Province, China**

"You're certain that Khan will attack toward Hong Kong through Canton?" a Chinese colonel asked as he looked out over the ground around the city.

"Much of his advance has been in a direct march from Tibet toward Hong Kong," the general beside the colonel answered, "We've pulled back to here because we can now strike at Khan, no matter which way he attacks toward Hong Kong. He will have to go past or through Canton in some way."

"What about our forces on Hainan Island?" the colonel asked.

"We can't help them," the general sighed heavily, "Our only hope is that our bunkers and fortifications here will hold them off."

The colonel only gave a heavy sigh at that. The army had tried fixed fortifications against Khan's forces before. All of them had failed. At first assumption, it was because Khan overwhelmed these posts through superior numbers, but that assumption was wrong. In many cases the men that the fortifications were supposed to slow own were able to perform feats of strength or speed that no normal human could or they killed the men inside the bunkers with sniper fire… or at worse the strange attacks made by an unnamed woman who was commonly seen with Khan's forces.

The only thing the Pro-Illuminati troops had to hope for was the fact that their previous bunkers had been few in number and hastily improvised. The current bunkers around Canton, Macao, and Hong Kong were not, and in theory could survive aerial bombing, for a short period of time. They were also being connected to concentrated rocket artillery and traditional artillery. Any attack Khan made would be met with firepower he had not encountered before.

But to the colonel, the number of men that had flocked to Khan's side because he promised to free them from the Illuminati was the bigger worry. Large portions of the Chinese army had started anti-Illuminati resistance movements, and when Khan's forces approached, they flocked to his legions.

"What about the soldiers flocking to serve Khan?" the colonel asked, "suppose they are the first wave? It might inspire…"

"We've already crushed all local resistance to the 'Illuminati', colonel," the general answered, "those behind our lines are behind us completely."

"I know, sir," the colonel responded, "but… I am not at ease with killing our own people, sir… fellow soldiers, even."

"They are traitors, colonel," the general informed him, "remember that."

"I do," the colonel responded, "I just wonder what's made them choose that path though."

"No one will ever know," the general sighed.

Meanwhile, more then one hundred yards away, Marilyn looked down toward the city of Canton from a small platform mounted in a tree outside the city. She could see clear signs of military activity in the areas that she could see from that position that weren't obstructed either by trees or other buildings.

"What have you uncovered?" Marilyn asked an officer standing nearby.

"They've set a line of bunkers across every possible advance line toward the city behind them," the officer spoke, "and our scouts believe they've also positioned themselves in a way that they can strike our flanks even if we move around their bunkers."

"They expect us to charge them with basic artillery cover," Marilyn commented as she lowered her binoculars, "can we bomb them?"

"That would take awhile and would only persuade them to launch a withdrawal toward a point that we can't bomb or until we can trap them," the officer replied, "and since all of our aircraft that we've captured are all in use by the Chinese military we can be certain that they have the countermeasures for them ready."

Marilyn sighed heavily. Their conversation was a result of the advance that Khan's forces had made over the past week. They had liberated more pockets of anti-Illuminati resistance, and the facilities in Tibet had produced enough supermen to give them the numbers to prepare for an attack toward Hong Kong, which Khan wanted to prepare for the ultimate seizing of all of China.

Marilyn had also been sent to deal with the various hotspots along the lines. This wasn't too bad, but it wasn't what the female clone of Merlin wanted. She wanted to remain in Tibet to await Demona's inevitable attack on Khan's base. But, since Damien, as a gargoyle himself, was only awake at night, Khan chose to use him to face off against Demona when they were awake. Marilyn was left fight the day and night battles against the Chinese army.

"Keep your men back here for the time being," Marilyn told the officer, "they expect to fight a set piece battle."

Marilyn then began to head down toward the ground. The officer then nervously looked down after her.

"What are you going to be doing?" the officer asked.

"Try to see if I can upset their pieces," Marilyn smiled and vanished in a flash of light.

**Tibet**

"I can't believe this," Demona spoke as she made her way through the snow covered ruins of what had been the Tibetan clan's monastery home.

The building had been completely destroyed, and had been partially buried under the snows that had fallen on the mountain top. The stonework looked as though it had been blasted apart and the wooden parts of the structure were gone completely. Any of that that was left was likely laying flat on the ground and buried in snow.

"I still can not get why they would do this to you," Wedrington commented as he looked around, "I mean, your clan was most hospitable to Demona the last time she was here, and you forgave me for what Sekhmet made me do. What could you have done to them?"

"We can not say why they attacked us," Je Lu spoke as he looked around his destroyed home, "we did nothing to warrant an attack."

"As is the case with small minded humans," Demona growled, "they see gargoyles and their first instinct is to attack."

"I do not believe racial hatred was the motive for the attack," Yoshi commented as the rest of the gargoyles began to gather in what had been the center of the monastery.

"Then why do you think this was done?" Demona growled again.

"Given what we've learned of Khan's activities so far, since we're arrived in China," Yoshi spoke, "my best guess is that Khan sensed that Je Lu's clan might have opposed him when he started putting his plans into motion. Attacking them was likely the only way he thought that he could proceed. It could even be doubtful that he has any opinion on gargoyles, good or bad."

"And that matters why?" Demona grumbled, "they still attacked and destroyed the home of a clan of gargoyles and their few friends who never did anything to provoke an attack."

"I am not defending Khan's actions," Yoshi answered, "but not every action is motivated by blind hatred, which means our opposition to him can not be made as though we were opposing blind hatred."

"There are different ways of opposing different evils?" Wedrington asked.

"There are many ways to oppose the same thing," Yama spoke as he approached, "the question is of choosing the most honorable option."

"The best option would be to pinpoint Khan's location and take him out," Demona commented, "Without him, his entire operation will fall apart… and maybe things will eventually be peaceful again."

"But what will we do in the meantime?" Shi La asked, "it will likely take awhile to defeat Khan. We can't just stay out here in the open."

The others were quick to agree. No one felt secure roosting on top of a mountain where they would be exposed to the winds and at risk of being smashed by Khan's troops, and Demona understood that concept all too well.

"I can deal with what must be done next," Demona sighed, "as I doubt we have time for everyone to tunnel out a cave for us to sleep in."

"A cave?" a Tibetan female asked, "you mean like bats?"

"Khan would only attack the monastery again if I were to use sorcery to rebuild it," Demona replied, "a cave will be far more defensible."

Demona then turned toward the edge of the mountain top that the destroyed monastery sat on.

"But I won't be putting it on this mountain," Demona sighed, "Khan knows we are here and will like look around this peak frequently anyway."

And with that, Demona leaped into the air and began gliding toward a peak not that far away from them.

**Khan's Base**

Khan and his second meanwhile were watching the entire thing through the camera lens of a Chinese RPV that they had liberated earlier in the campaign. As of yet, the gargoyles were yet to spot the unmanned vehicle.

"Ah, the wonders of technology," Khan said with a slight smile as he watched the images the RPV was transmitting.

"I would be more concerned with what they saying," his second in command commented, "we might learn more."  
Khan dismissed it.

"Probably plotting my downfall," Khan told his second, "but they should know that our base here perfectly prepared for any attack."

His second in command nodded, "Damien though, wishes to engage them immediately."

"Damien can wait until they attack us," Khan answered firmly, "we we will be in the stronger position that way. We only attacked Demona in the past to test Marilyn and Damien's powers in sorcery. Now that that is done, our dealings with Demona is to wait for her to come to us."

"Wouldn't she be more likely to strike at our supply lines? Try to help the Illuminati?" his second in command asked.

"That would require her actually having a strategic mind," Khan dismissed it, "In every instance where she has run into our forces, she has attacked directly, and attacked even positions that were strategically unimportant. Subtlety is not her strongpoint."

The second gave a slight chuckle and then looked to his master with a look that was very concerned.

"Shouldn't we recall Marilyn then?" the second asked, "Insure that Demona runs into a force she won't be able to beat."

"No," Khan answered, "for the moment, our real enemy is China. Any success Demona has will be small and temporary. She simply doesn't have the numbers to do anything major in the long term."

"Then why are we following her?" the second asked, "if she is unimportant, we should focus on that which is important."

"She isn't unimportant," Khan replied, "Merely small on our list of potential threats. I'm sure that I am her ultimate target… but even if she kills me, you or Marilyn will be more then capable of keeping our movement together and will free China from the Illuminati… and besides, she is still a gargoyle. She must sleep during the day…"

"And learning where she will roost will net an easy victory," his second nodded as he caught on to Khan's plan.

"You're catching on," Khan smiled, "keep the RPV up. I don't want them noticing it, but follow Demona."

"Yes sir," his second answered.

**Canton, Guangdong Province, China**

Meanwhile, in one of the bunkers around the city of Canton, two soldiers looked out of the opening for their machine gun for any sign of the supermen or anti-Illuminati troops that had torn China into the civil war it was currently fighting. So far, nothing had come their way. That all ended when a flash of light came from behind them. The two soldiers turned to see Marilyn pull the pins of two of their grenades and then vanish. Men all around could hear them scream before the grenades went off.

Once reappearing outside the bunker, Marilyn couldn't help but smile. The explosion had blown the back door off of the bunker and alerted the others to the problem. They were now all firing toward perceived targets that weren't there. Khan's troops had dug themselves into trenches that were deep enough that the bullets the defenders of Canton fired were well over their heads. Even if they weren't, Marilyn noticed that the pro-Illuminati soldiers were firing so wildly that it wasn't likely that they'd hit anything anyway.

"Fools," Marilyn chuckled as she began to walk toward the next bunker.

Her pace was stopped when a small group of soldiers came running toward her. They were quick to level their rifles at her.

"Hands up!" one soldier demanded in Chinese.

"Like this?" Marilyn asked with a grin before casting a lightning spell that destroyed their guns.

"It's the devil woman!" one soldier gasped as his gun fell apart from the electric charge that had suddenly run through it.

"Get her!" another yelled and lunged forward toward Marilyn, pulling out his knife.

Marilyn easily caught the man and then slung him like shock-put into several of the other soldiers. Marilyn chuckled as that blow essentially immobilized at least five men for a short while, even as she faced off against five more.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you it's not nice to pick on girls?" Marilyn taunted as she vaulted one attacker who had dove at her feet and kicked two more in the face, sending them staggering back to the remaining two.

"Our parents taught us proper gender values, woman," the man who had dove at her growled, "and we will teach you respect!"

"A chauvinist, I see," Marilyn chuckled and chanted again while raising an arm in the man's direction.

Before anyone else could act, an emerald light shot from her hand and wrapped around the man, who screamed with pain and seemed to vanish in the emerald light. When the light finally faded away, there was nothing left but a large python, hissing angrily at Marilyn.

"Anyone else think women are inferior?" Marilyn taunted as she glanced at the flabbergasted soldiers there.

"Get the demon woman!" was the rallying cry that Marilyn heard and sighed as she was brought back into a fight again.

They all rushed at Marilyn at once, but Khan's sorceress was more then just a 'witch'. Like all the supermen in Khan's service she was stronger then normal humans and could react quicker then they could. She caught two of them and slammed them together, knocking them out. That bought time for one of the others to land a flying kick on Marilyn, knocking her back. She also ended up tripping over the python she had just created and landed on her backside.

The python was not pleased at being transformed into a snake and tried to wrap itself around Marilyn, but Khan's sorceress managed to throw the large snake off of her and into the men preparing to land a second blow. This made the soldiers scream in terror and aggravated the snake to the point were it began to constrict the lungs of one of the soldiers. All of this bought Marilyn more time to prepare her next move.

She lead off with a flying kick that knocked out one of the soldier's trying to save his comrade from the angry python and then added two lightning spells that sent two others flying. At this point, the remaining pro-Illuminati soldiers had had enough and were fleeing as quickly as they could go.

"All too easy," Marilyn chuckled as she walked on toward another bunker, leaving the python to kill its former comrade.

Farther away, two supermen officers looked toward the rows of Illuminati bunkers firing madly toward enemies that weren't there. Most of the rounds were hitting earthen barriers that their troops had erected to protect themselves, or flew over their heads to hit things unknown.

"They'll expend their ammunition for nothing," one officer smiled, "all of our 'attacks' so far have been made by Marilyn."

"They'll catch on that she's the only one attacking and will call for a sorceress," the other officer commented.

"I think that was her plan though," the first officer spoke, "Like she is spoiling for a fight."

"I believe Marilyn wished to fight with Demona, not with the Illuminati's followers," the second officer grumbled, "from the way she carries herself, she sees them as beneath her."

"They're beneath all of us," the first officer grumbled, "Demona and her gargoyles might present an interesting challenge. The problem is that we can't focus our attention on her until after the Illuminati have been crushed."

"Does she understand that?" the second officer asked nervously.

"I believe so," the first officer shrugged, "and besides, drawing out the Illuminati's sorcerers would be a help to us. When they are beaten, fighting the rest that the defend the Illuminati will be easier."

The second officer nodded, "when do we give the order to attack?"

"Either when Marilyn runs into an Illuminati spell caster, or when most of their bunkers have been destroyed," the first officer spoke, "we have their cannon targeted, thanks to the RPVs we've already captured from the Chinese and from the limited manufacturing capabilities of our base. So they will not be an issue."

"So, all we can do is keep watching the carnage?" the second officer asked and then sighed when the first only nodded.

**Tibet**

"There," Demona sighed as she finished hollowing out a cave in the side of a nearby mountain.

The process had been long and not necessarily quiet. Much of it were simple teleportation spells that Demona unceremoniously dumped into the lower ground between the mountain he had dug the cave out of and the mountain that the monastery had been on. The rocks all crashed loudly, and likely crushed anything soft that they hit, and smaller rocks were likely also crushed.

"Hopefully there were no supermen down their to notice the rockslide you created," Yama commented as he landed on the ledge and looked down to the rocky gorge below them.

"This from the gargoyle that has hounded for a direct fight?" Demona demanded, "that urged that we avoid all the sneaking around because it wouldn't be honorable?"

"There is a difference between merely drawing to attention to ones self and setting up a battle on OUR terms," Yama answered, "if Khan learns of this location, there is nothing to stop him from attacking us at dawn… now, given your claims of immortality, I'm sure that would be no threat to you, but the rest of us are quite mortal. If I am to die, I would prefer to be awake when that time comes… so I can face that end with honor."

"He does have a point," Wedrington commented to Demona, "Khan does have the luxury of timing his attacks. We do not."

Demona glanced back and toward Je Lu and the other Tibetan gargoyles. All of them looked somewhat nervous. And that made her sigh. Other then herself and Yama, they only had two real warriors. Wedrington and Yoshi would be helpful, with what little experience Wedrington had gained with Demona and Yoshi being raised in the same school of life as Yama, but combat wasn't their primary way of life.

The Tibetan gargoyles lacked that much. They would need formal training and probably some experience before they could really consider an all out assault against Khan's forces. The only other option would have been to use them as cannon fodder while Demona took out Khan, herself, but in her mind she had never done such things with gargoyles. She had done that with human 'allies' she had deceived, but she liked to believe she had never done that with gargoyles.

"This is our shelter," Demona spoke firmly, "were we will sleep and train. It is unlikely that Khan is looking for us here, and even if he does, any technology he has can be countered."

"Through your sorcery?" Shi La asked skeptically.

"Yes," Demona nodded and turned to the cave opening she had created and chanted in Latin.

Once she had finished she returned to the gathered gargoyles.

"All anyone will see from the outside is the mountain side," Demona spoke, "but that is only a projected image. The magical equivalent of a hologram. It holds no physical form, so we can easily walk through, after landing on the ledge outside the cave opening. We can strike and appear to fade into nothing with no trace of our presence."

That gained some measured sigh of relief, until Yoshi spoke up.

"If Khan has anything that can detect body heat, he might be able to figure out that the image is fake," Yoshi warned, "Sorcery is not the answer to everything."

"Maybe not, but it's the best tool we have at the moment," Demona replied, "and I will use it to the best of my ability."

"The real question is what do we do next," Wedrington commented.

"Mostly train Je Lu's clan and figure out where Khan is hiding," Demona spoke, "Some of which could take a while."

"Wouldn't can be in that fortress we saw when we glided back to the site of the monastery?" one of the Tibetan females wondered.

"That might be where he started, but with all of western China in his hands, and his armies advancing toward China's larger cities he could be somewhere else," Yoshi commented, "I'd think that fortress would only be a starting point."

Demona nodded with the Japanese librarian, "Yes, but until Je Lu's clan is fully trained, we won't be attacking that fortress. Khan has likely seen to its defense, so that even if an attack is successful, we'd take heavy casualties."

"There could be heavy casualties anyway," Wedrington warned, "the men who went over the top during the Battle of the Somme were well trained… and the first day of that battle is still to this day, Britain's single bloodiest day in its military history."

Demona nodded, although she didn't actually know the information that Wedrington had told her. She knew of the First World War, but to her, at the time, it was a means to the end she wanted. Glancing at the white lion-like gargoyle, Demona sighed, as the 'end' she wanted in 1914 wasn't really the 'end' she wanted now. Although, she wouldn't likely shed any tears if humanity suddenly vanished.

"Anyway," Demona spoke to give instructions to the gathered gargoyles, but mostly to Wedrington, Yama, and Yoshi, "I will make one raid on Khan's fortress to see if I can get one of Khan's supermen. In the meantime, Je Lu's clan will need training in the warrior arts. It'll be the only they'll stand a chance in the long run."

"Shouldn't someone go with you?" Wedrington asked, "to watch your back?"

"I'll be fine," Demona answered, "I don't intend on getting into a big fight. Just glide there, take one prisoner, and glide back. We'll then get whatever intelligence we need from him then."

"You're certain?" Yoshi asked.

Demona nodded, "I shouldn't be long."

**Khan's Base**

Meanwhile, Damien stood on the roof of the fortress that Khan had seized to use as a base. He didn't like standing guard waiting for Demona to attack. It gave her the initiative, which Damien wanted to keep the gargoyle he had been cloned from on her toes. But Khan preferred to have her come to him, so he stood guard with a small contingent of supermen on the roof of the fortress.

"This is pointless," Damien grumbled, "Khan is following them with an RPV. We should strike them at the soonest opportunity. Even with the forces here, we could destroy them easily."

"Khan is concerned that such an attack would be met with heavy casualties," of the commandos spoke, "and with Marilyn presently helping secure Hong Kong for our forces, he doesn't want us to destroy our reserves attacking Demona when she is clearly prepared or expecting us."

"And given that Demona is currently on her way here, it would be best to put up a good defensive fight," came Khan's voice as he came up from a stairway, "here, we are prepared for anything she might do."

The other supermen quickly turned to see Khan step out. They completely surprised that he had come out.

"She is coming here?" a superman asked.

"Yes," Khan nodded, "and like our friend Damien here, I look forward to meeting a new enemy face to face."

"She could kill you, my lord," a different superman warned.

"Yes, but she doesn't know what I look like," Khan answered, "and given that she is alone, I do not think she intends to have an all out fight."

"She is alone?" Damien asked, the hope for battle shinning in his eyes.

"That is what our RPV indicates," Khan nodded, "all we have to do is wait, and she will come."

"At last, battle!" Damien proclaimed confidently.

**Canton, Guangdong Province, China**

Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the pro-Illuminati troops in Canton, the general in charge of holding the city nervously looked out a window. He had been receiving reports of a lone woman attacking the bunkers and ambushing the men being sent to reinforce them. So far, he had received reports of thirty men dead, one of which looked like he'd been strangled and crushed by something, at least twice that number wounded or unconscious, and one missing, and there was of yet no sign of Khan's soldiers. This meant that the attack was clearly being launched by Khan's sorceress.

"You sent for me?" a voice asked from behind the general.

The General turned to see the Illuminati agent known as Pax standing in the room with him. The direct Illuminati agent looked nearly as nervous as the General did.

"Yes, I did," the general answered, "seeing as how Khan has made this civil war about you and your council, I figured you and your council ought to be more involved in putting down his rebellion."

"The Council does have agents on the ground," Pax answered, "to my knowledge though, they have not succeeded in catching Khan."

"Right now, for me, Khan is unimportant," the General growled, "that witch of his is out there attacking my defensive line, practically without a scratch. You need to stop her before my defenses are useless."

"That may be of some difficulty," Pax answered, "I am no warrior and most of the magics that I know are rather subtle. Not suited for combat. You would need to get her stop her attack and sit down to a negotiating table if I were to get any element of surprise."

"I highly doubt that she'll surrender," the general grumbled.

"Then perhaps a bit of trickery then," Pax commented, "Pretend that you are surrendering. It might even give me time to get a more peaceful resolution to this crisis."

"You honestly think this mess can be ended peacefully?" the general wondered, "that Khan will back down and give China its land and people back?"

"I would like to believe that there is a possible compromise that will be acceptable to both sides," Pax answered, "it is my way of trying to lessen the pain and suffering that both sides are feeling in this war."

"You don't win wars through compromise," the general growled, "wars are won through victory. Only then can peace be attained."

Pax only sighed.

Marilyn, meanwhile began to make her way toward the interior part of pro-Illuminati lines. Things were fairly weak as far as Marilyn was concerned. The soldiers all attacked her with guns, which she was able to destroy with lightning spells, or was able to avoid through the 'programming' that went into all the supermen. That left Marilyn somewhat bored as she was hoping she would encounter some Illuminati agent worth fighting. Canton was the gateway to Hong Kong. Unless the Chinese navy could keep the city supplied by sea, by taking Canton, Hong Kong would be cut off and one of China's most important ports would be in Khan's hands. But other then a few soldiers, Marilyn had not run into much in the way of resistance.

As she made her way through an emptied Chinese barracks, she cast a fire spell to set the building on fire and continued her way into the city. Once she was out of the now burning building, she readied a flare gun she had on her and fired it into the air, signaling he rest Khan's men to begin their attack. If the Chinese weren't going to defend these important cities to the fullest, she would assure Khan of a quick and crushing victory.

As the first shots of anti-Illuminati artillery were fired, Marilyn sensed something coming from an abandoned building not too far away. That made her smile. Maybe she would get a good fight after all.

"She knows I'm here," Pax suddenly spoke as the sound of artillery rained down on the Chinese positions around Canton.

None of the shells hit the building they were in, but Pax felt a powerful energy wave run through his mind. Almost as if Khan's sorceress was magically sending him a note of challenge.

"Then you'll defeat her?" the general questioned.

"I may have to try," Pax answered, "but I will still prefer a more peaceful solution then outright violence."

The general never got a chance to answer as massive blast of energy caught the wall and window he was standing near and threw him across the room. Much of debris from the attack landed on him. Pax then turned when he heard a feminine voice speak to him in a very confrontational matter.

"So this is where you're hiding," Marilyn smiled as she lowered herself onto the floor to stand in front of a man in red robes, although the hood was down and she could clearly see that the man was more of European ancestry then Asian, "seems like you should have been on the front lines if you're an Illuminati enforcer."

"I am an agent of the Illuminati Council, but I am no enforcer," Pax spoke, "before anything more is done rashly, I must insist that you stop this violence and sit down and talk."

"You're surrendering?" Marilyn questioned.

"No, I'm trying to negotiate what will be in China's best interest," Pax answered.

"You mean keeping the Illuminati in power," Marilyn shot back and readied a fighting stance.

"I very much doubt that Khan will be much better if left unchecked," Pax retorted, "I'm sure that both Khan and the Council could come to an acceptable agreement if both sides were more concerned for the lives of the people caught between the two sides."

"You really are a bleeding heart, aren't you?" Marilyn taunted as she sent the table flying at Pax, "Maybe this won't be a battle after all…"

Pax barely avoided being hit in the face by the flying table and reached inside his robes for a small pouch he carried with him. Marilyn was a powerful sorceress, clearly, but her skills leaned toward direct and clear attacks. Pax was not that kind of sorcerer and nowhere near as powerful. Opening the pouch, he then threw the powder within at Marilyn as she approached, intending to make a physical attack.

Marilyn coughed on the dust, largely thinking it was some sort of smoke powder to let Pax escape, but the longer her head remained in the cloud of dust, the drowsier she felt.

"I would prefer it if there was no fighting at all," Pax spoke, "I'm sure there is some agreement that both my Council and Khan would agree to."

"Then you're a fool!" Marilyn growled and cast a lightning spell at Pax.

Pax managed to dodge it, but also noticed that his own tricks had worked. The spell did very little, if any noticeable, damage to the wall he was standing near. Which meant that he might be able to afford simply taking whatever Marilyn decided to dish out.

"For the moment, I'm at least at full strength," Pax spoke, "I could easily kill you in your present condition."

Marilyn paused. She was feeling somewhat weakened, though not enough to be near death.

"And I'm supposed to be grateful?" Marilyn questioned angrily, feeling her body begin to slowly purge itself of what Pax had thrown at her.

"No, you're supposed to calm down and discus these things calmly and peacefully," Pax answered, "the Chinese people are not part of this fight. Just your master, Khan, and my Council, the Illuminati. The powder was only to help you calm down."

Marilyn didn't answer.

"I'll start, why is Khan doing all of this?" Pax asked, "and believe me, it isn't out of Chinese nationalism against 'Illuminati Imperialism'. The Illuminati created him, so that can't be the real reason. Maybe the reason he's sold to the Chinese soldiers and people following him, but not the real reason."

Marilyn watched Pax came closer to her, as if he expected her to be calm. Marilyn decided to play along for the moment. If he wasn't going to fight and was expecting her to be docile, she would be able to get the drop on him when his powder wore off.

"Khan is doing this to install a rightful ruler over the world," Marilyn answered, "One who is strong enough and smart enough to rule over it wisely."

"A bit over ambitious, your Khan is, is he not?" Pax retorted, "Conquering the whole world? No one has ever done it. Only the Romans and Genghis Khan came reasonably close, but the Roman conquest took centuries to produce and died with the Emperor Trajan. Genghis Khan conquered the most territory any one man could conquer in a lifetime, he couldn't leave a lasting political foundation and it quickly splintered into regional kingdoms at his death…"

Pax came a little closer.

"In other words, you can conquer a vast amount of territory quickly," Pax began, "but it would be solely built on the leader's personality. Once he is gone, it will quickly collapse."

Marilyn watched as Pax then moved onto the other option.

"Or, you can simply nibble at the globe and lay a strong political framework as you go," Pax continued, "but such a plan would require you having a long string of like minded leaders and a lot of good fortune. Rome had no serious outside rival since the end of the Second Punic War until the reign of Marcus Aurelius through the Severans when the Germans to the north and Persians to the east became serious threats."

"This isn't the second century," Marilyn answered, "nor is it the time of Genghis Khan. The world is far smaller today. One could conquer the world rapidly…"

"Ah… the 'Hitler' connection," Pax shrugged, "May I remind you, that while Hitler did conquer nearly all of Europe in the space of three years when the war began in 1939 through the reaching of Stalingrad and El Alamain in 1942, but you also must remember that such rapid conquests tend to draw in more forces then what you can expect to realistically beat. It didn't for Hitler. He ended up at war with the entire world, and even the nations he 'conquered' kept fighting, and not every German was as fanatical as he was."

"Khan is not some Austrian painter with mad delusions of grandeur," Marilyn answered as she felt her strength beginning to return, "we are smarter, stronger… better then the people that made us. We have a right to rule."

"And every conqueror throughout history has thought the same thing," Pax countered, "that doesn't necessarily make their belief right."

"Are you trying to persuade me to join you?" Marilyn asked.

"You and perhaps all of Khan's forces," Pax answered, "it would restore peace and would give Khan a place of power."

"With your Council as his commander," Marilyn pointed out, "remember this whole war is to get out from under your Council's thumb."

"Khan likely doesn't want to be the Council's leg man, enforcing their will on those who they don't like," Pax corrected, "What I'm offering is a much higher ranking, which correspondingly comes with a lot more personal freedom then what Khan would have had where he started."

"But he must still follow the Council's orders," Marilyn counted, "which means that any freedom we're given is only by the grace of your Council… which ultimately is no freedom at all."

Pax couldn't argue that, as technically that was true. It took him a moment or to two think of an adequate response.

"But wouldn't it be better to try and change things from the inside?" Pax asked, "Use the system against it?"

"It would fail when the people who control the system know that Khan would be a potential interior threat," Marilyn replied, nearly back to full strength, "they'd rewrite the rules to insure that we would never be able to use it. Better to scrap the entire system and replace it with something far more deserving of the powers your 'system' currently wields."

Pax was quiet for a few moments as he eyed the sorceress. His powder would wear off soon, and they had yet to reach any sort of agreement that would allow them to keep talking once it had worn off.

"Surely there is something…" Pax began to say.

"You could surrender," Marilyn said in a frustrated voice.

Then in one motion, Marilyn landed a swinging kick to Pax's chest that sent him flying back against the wall. He groaned in pain as he felt like several of his ribs were cracked.

"Or I can put all this useless talk to bed and kill you here and now," Marilyn spoke in a cold blooded voice and fired a lightning spell at Pax at close range.

That attack did the job Marilyn intended. Pax was dead and smoldering, thanks to the electricity from the lightning spell. Marilyn also heard shots being fired outside and moved to the open point in the wall of the room she had entered. When she got there she saw Chinese soldiers running in panic before the supermen she had been sent to support. And that made Marilyn smile. They would likely free the anti-Illuminati prisoners in Canton, and if the current rout kept up, they'd take Hong Kong quickly as well.

**Tibet**

Demona, meanwhile, glided toward Khan's base, intent on her mission to grab one of Khan's supermen. As she began to approach the stronghold, she began casting a series of spells that would serve to heat the snow around the base, making great columns of mist and fog rise into the air, hoping it would obscure their view of her. As she came closer, she noticed five men standing guard with one man looking like he was supervising them. Standing near the sixth man was the male 'clone' of her, Damien. Demona's eyes quickly lit up with a bright scarlet light.

"That clone…" Demona growled angrily and readied a lightning spell.

"She's here," Damien commented as fog suddenly enveloped the roof of the fortress.

"You're sure?" one of the supermen spoke as he tried to look into the fog.

"This came on far too fast for it to be natural," Damien answered, "it has to be her."

"Be ready," Khan warned as the supermen raised their weapons to the sky.

The supermen barely had time to react when a lightning bolt came down out of the fog and narrowly missed hitting Damien. The shockwave from the attack, however ended up knocking Damien back until he ended up stumbling back into Khan.

Demona, herself, then appeared out of the fog, and landed a slashing blow with her talons to the neck to of one of the supermen standing guard. The blow send blood splattering through the air and killed the superman she had attacked. The other supermen quickly fired on Demona's position. The immortal female ducked down and rolled forward, toward Damien and Khan. The two supermen that were at first flanking her, ended up shooting each other while the other two had their shots go harmlessly into the fog.

"All too easy," Demona grumbled as she fired off another lightning spell, hitting one of the remaining two supermen, knocking him off of the fortress.

She was about to lunge forward toward the last remaining superman, when Damien tackled her from the side. He managed to wrestle her into a full nelson and held her down in front of him. The superman raised his rifle and then lowered it.

"So this is Demona, the gargoyle that even the Illuminati fears," came another voice, sounding more curious then anything else.

Demona looked to see the sixth superman slowly approach, "I would have thought she would have been smarter."

Demona only growled at the insult, "This fight has only begun."

Demona then flung her head backward, and caught Damien's nose, making him let her go. She then pivoted on one foot and kicked Damien back. He ended up staggering over the edge, but he was soon gliding back to the battle zone on his wings.

"You won't get rid of me that easily!" Damien challenged.

Demona growled an was about to lunge toward the clone, when a laser shot struck one of her wings. She roared with pain and looked back to see the one armed superman slowly approaching. The one who had talked to her, meanwhile, remained quiet, as if he were observing the battle, rather then fighting in it.

Demona turned quickly and cast a spell that had the lone armed superman on slick ice. As he tried to advance on the immortal female, he slipped and lost his weapon, which ended up sliding right up to the female gargoyle.

"Thank you for your kind donation," Demona taunted the superman and then shot the sixth man with a quick turn of the weapon.

The shot was not serious. It only hit Khan in the shoulder, but it still knocked him down. He also knew that his top advantage over the gargoyle was that he knew her face, but she did not know his. If she knew who he was, she might have taken more time to aim her stolen weapon better.

Demona, however, cared little. She had already turned to confront Damien who was now diving toward her at great speed, hoping to do something. Demona then fired several shots, hoping that Damien's lack of battle experience would do him in. It did. He dove into two shots, which crippled his wings, and the third hit one of his legs as he began to tumble out of the air. He landed hard right in front of Demona.

Damien growled in pain and then fired his own lightning spell at the weapon Demona had stolen. The weapon exploded, knocking Demona backward, only to be grabbed by the superman who had now recovered from the icy patch that Demona had put him on shortly before. He gripped her from behind and desperately tried to hold her down.

"Surrender, devil," the superman commanded and tried to squeeze his arms tighter, which to Demona felt like a moderately strong hug.

"Never," Demona snarled back and drove her elbows back, startling the man and making him release her as her spurs went through the body armor he was wearing, but didn't quite get through his skin.

When the man stumbled back, Demona then turned to face him.

"I'm actually here for YOU, human," Demona the smiled as the superman began to recover, "You can answer a few questions for me."

The superman launched a powerful kick, hoping to knock Demona backward, but the sky blue female dodged and actually managed to grab the leg. She then swung the man around until his back connected with one of the raised structures on top of the fortress. This finally knocked him out, and Demona put him in a position that would make him easier to carry.

As she approached the edge, she glanced back to Damien who was still trying to get up.

"You are lucky clone that I am not here for you this night," Demona growled, "for you will not survive our next encounter!"

And with that, Demona left with the unconscious superman.

"Most interesting," Khan spoke as Damien finally got to his feet.

"Interesting?!" Damien growled, "she's killed four of your supermen, wounded both us and fled with the fifth superman! What could be interesting about it?!"

"She was only here for one man, and it was the man she carried off," Khan answered, "that is what makes it interesting."

"Kidnapping is hardly an effective form of resistance," Damien grumbled.

"True, but it is a way of gathering information," Khan answered, "although, how one gets that information from their prisoners is usually up to the one who takes the prisoners. She wants information."

"Then we should rescue him!" Damien urged.

"He is only one man, and not very high up in our command structure," Khan dismissed that, "and with bigger battles to fight, we can not afford a major battle to rescue one man. An information Demona gains from him will be nothing that the Illuminati, our real enemy, already knows."

Damien only looked in the direction in which Demona had fled.

"Besides," Khan finished, "we're both wounded, and you seriously. You can't glide after her, and a ground party would take too long. He'll likely be dead before the rescue team would even get to Demona's little cave hideaway."

Khan then turned and began to go back inside. Damien sighed and followed him after a few moments.

**Mountainside**

Demona returned quietly to the location of their base to find Yama and Yoshi taking Je Lu's clan through basic warm up exercises. Wedrington was also doing his best to follow along. It was Shi La who actually noticed Demona's return.

"You're back…" Shi La spoke, "with a prisoner…"

"Yes, but he won't be of any use until he wakes up," Demona answered, "and even then, it will likely take sorcery to make him more agreeable."

The others gave some looks like they didn't agree with that entirely, but they were also quite certain that they didn't have many other options. Only Wedrington looked like he fully trusted Demona's use of magic.

**Khan's Base**

"Hong Kong has fallen?" Khan asked a medic tended to the wounds Demona had given him.

"Yes," Marilyn said on the communications screen, "we broke their defensive lines around Canton and they then ran. We've taken over 25,000 prisoners and have liberated 4,569 anti-Illuminati soldiers."

"What about the Chinese naval presence?" Khan asked.

"We managed to seize a couple of gunboats, but nothing that would make a difference at sea," Marilyn sighed, "I'm afraid your idea to land troops closer to Beijing has failed. All we have gained is the territory and inflicted casualties."

"The gunboats will still be useful," Khan commented, "and thanks to the military build up in Tibet in the first stages we've recovered a vast number of aircraft. They can neutralize any attempt by the navy to restrain our actions along the coast, and with Hong Kong in our hands, we can expand the current war to the island of Formosa."

Marilyn nodded as she sensed some of what Khan was getting at.

**Mountainside**

The superman heard voices as he came to and quickly found that his hands and wrists were bound by bands of granite, as if the rock had formed in bands around him. The immortal sky blue gargoyle stood before him with several other gargoyles standing around and watching.

"Are you sure this will work?" Yama asked, "he looks like a fairly determined foe… and torture is a dishonorable practice."

"He will feel no pain," Demona answered, "he will simply lose the mental willpower to resist and will tell us anything, and will do anything."

"You would enslave him?" Wedrington asked, shocked.

"He is not a good human that would naturally fight to defend our kind," Demona answered, "and might be willing to turn to those who try to kill us out of hatred… and besides, they are just as strong as we are. Those rock shackles won't hold him for long. Our only other alternatives would simply be to kill him or send him back to Khan."

"Which would be worse then what you're planning to do," Wedrington sighed after a few moments, "I just want it on the record that I don't like this."

Demona nodded, "but it HAS to be done."

They had all been speaking in either English, Japanese, or Chinese, languages that the superman, through his 'programming' knew. But what Demona did next and the language she spoke in, the superman was not prepared for. She raised one hand toward him and chanted something in Latin. When she finished a strange green mist came from one of Demona's hands and went into the superman's face, making him breathe it all in.

Demona, meanwhile, stood quietly as her magic assaulted the superman's mind. He shook his head for a few moments before it stopped and opened his eyes in a trance like manner. They were also solid green with no hint of a pupil, iris, or any other normal eye structure. Other then Demona, everyone was somewhat nervous about all of this.

"State your name," Demona commanded

"Kay Lee Hue," the man answered.

"Kay, I order you to answer my questions honestly," Demona spoke clearly.

"Yes, mistress," Kay answered in a trance-like monotone.

"Where is Khan?" Demona demanded.

"In Fortress Tibet, where you just returned from," Kay answered obediently.

"He is here?" Yoshi asked in the background.

Kay didn't answer.

"The spell makes him obey whoever holds the spell," Demona told the Japanese librarian, "if I needed a spell book to cast it, if you had the book, or the page the spell was on, you could ask him, but since I'm strong enough in sorcery that I do not need a spell book, I hold the spell at all times."

Demona then turned back to Kay.

"Who is Khan?" Demona demanded, "what does he look like?"

"He is the one you wounded but did not kill," Kay spoke slowly, unable to fight the spell.

"That was Damien," Demona countered.

"He was the gargoyle you wounded," Kay explained, "Khan was the man that you wounded."

Demona then realized what the man had mentioned and then growled to herself.

"I could have ended this war and I let him go!" Demona then roared.

If Kay had his free will, he would have smiled.

"At least we can identify him, now," Wedrington spoke up, "it's doubtful that he'll get away again."

Demona nodded and took a moment to compose herself.

"You will guard us during the day," Demona ordered, "if anyone threatens to destroy us, you will fight to the death."

Kay found himself repeating Demona's command. It was then that she released him from the imprisonment that he was in.

"You're certain he won't turn on us?" Yama asked.

"Not in his current state," Demona answered, "and Khan likely thinks we've killed him, so he won't come to his rescue."

The others only watched as the spelled man took up a guard post just inside the cave opening as the sun rose, turning the gargoyles to stone for the day.

**The End…**


	17. Training Guerillas

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place one week after "Falls".

Training Guerillas

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Unknown Location**

"The status of the campaign in China is not going well," Five reported to his fellow Council members, "Other than Hainan Island, Khan has gained control over all of Guangdong province and has recruited pirates to begin raiding the ships taking supplies to Hainan island."

"Pirates?" One asked.

"Ones he's equipped with very heavy weapons," Five nodded, "They haven't sunk any ships, but two Chinese destroyers have taken extremely heavy damage."

"He hasn't sent out any of the ships he captured at Hong Kong, Canton, or Macao?" Four asked.

"He didn't capture many," Five answered, "sending them out would invite disaster. The real question should be why he's done little in the way of bombing Hainan island or the supply ships. He's captured far more in the way of aircraft and pilots as he's advanced."

"And his supermen soldiers are programmed from the beginning to be as good as the world's best fighter aces," One grumbled, "he doesn't necessarily need to free Anti-Illuminati pilots."

"So what will he do now?" Four asked, "He has to take Beijing to stand a chance of actually conquering China, and we've been reinforcing that area with our available commandos from the orient region and the Chinese army has its strongest defenses around their capital."

"The most direct route would be to attack from Lanzhou straight for Beijing," Five told him, "but it's mostly desert terrain and would actually require Khan's entire advance to come to a halt for the time being."

"A halt?" One asked.

"His advance to Hong Kong took a good deal of his men south," Five answered, "He will need to stop and reposition his troops, if he is to take the direct approach. His other option is to leapfrog up the coast with small flanking advances to protect them until they reach the Yellow, Huang He, River and then make a direct advance on Beijing… but that would require marching farther and would extend his lines… but it is an option he can take immediately."

"What about a broad advance? Instead of a singular narrow thrust?" Six wondered.

"He'd still need to stop for that," Five sighed, "and even still, the greatest problem isn't really Khan or his supermen. It's this witch that's helping him. She's weakened our defenses in nearly every battle to the point where we have to retreat to survive, and our agents have failed in their fights with her."

"What about Demona and the gargoyles with her?" Three wondered.

"We are still unable to contact her," One reminded, "and to all our intelligence reports, she is now behind the lines that Khan controls."

"Likely trying to kill Khan herself," Four spoke, "which would be all the more reason to get her to ally with us."

"Losing Khan likely won't stop his forces and since all of the supermen were bread to have the same skills, it isn't likely that killing Khan would help our cause much," Five warned, "Khan would likely be replaced by another."

"Yes, we'd need Demona at the front where she could potentially turn the tide in our favor," One nodded, "but she is not there… and even if she were it is doubtful that she'd fight along side us."

"Then what else can we do?" Three asked, "We must do something."

"Five and I will go," One sighed and volunteered, "Perhaps we can turn the tide against this witch that Khan has recruited."

The other members of the Illuminati Council nervously sighed at that. The things in China were going bad if two members of the Council were going to go directly to deal with the problem. Five looked the most nervous, but he did agree with One. They would have to go. And a replacement 'One' and 'Five' would take their place while they were gone, even if it was only to give the Council a vote.

**Tibet**

A lone support helicopter flying close to the mountain tops and carrying equipment from Khan's base to frontline units moved slowly, barely missing the tops of the mountains as I flew. Its movements, however, was not unnoticed, and Demona and two female members of Je Lu's clan, Ming and Xing watched it intently as it flew.

"There doesn't seem to be many people in that helicopter," Ming commented to the sky blue female.

"It's mission is to carry supplies," Demona answered, "the people that will unload it are at is destination."

"And you're certain the crew are 'supermen'?" Xing wondered.

"They left Khan's base," Demona answered, "that is enough. Besides, this is to be a training exercise for you. To perfect the skills Yama and Yoshi have been teaching you in the cave."

"By taking down a helicopter?" Xing wondered.

"I will take down the helicopter down," Demona told them, "You will take down the pilot and copilot, who likely be disoriented by the crash."

Ming and Xing only looked on as Demona began to chant something.

Inside the helicopter, the pilot and copilot went about their mission, when the engines suddenly came to a stop without even sputtering. They feared that they would crash to the ground violently, but that fear was quickly dashed by a hard jolt that came out of nowhere.

"What was that?" the copilot gasped, "are we on the ground?"

"I don't think so," the pilot replied.

He tried the engine again. It didn't respond in anyway, no alarm, no indication that he was out of fuel. Just no starting of the engine. Neither man knew why the engine wasn't working. The pilot was tempted to try and climb out, but when he looked out the pilot's side window, he noticed three winged figures gliding through the air toward the 'downed' helicopter.

"Gargoyles!" the pilot gasped quickly and began to get out of his seat, "they must be after the supplies!"

The copilot leaned forward and saw the formation of gargoyles gliding toward them. He was quick to join his partner as he began prying the lid off of one of the crates to get at the weapons and or ammunition within them.

"Hurry," the pilot urged, "they aren't invincible. We've got to be ready for when they attack. They'll be here any moment!"

The copilot turned to the crate nearest to him when he saw the door behind the pilot suddenly vanish, as the door behind him vanished, which he did not see. They had little time to react as a sudden gust of wind then pulled each man out of the door behind them and sent them sliding down a surprisingly smooth slope onto what looked like a plateau in the middle of the Himalayas.

"They have largely been disarmed and are isolated from each other," Demona spoke, "you know have your training exercise."

"This still doesn't seem like good training to me," Xing commented.

"The best training is hands on," Demona replied, "and I will back you up should either of you have trouble."

Ming and Xing slowly nodded, as Demona had explained a good portion of her former clan's history, and how every gargoyle in it largely ended up a warrior to deal with potential threats to the castle. Demona left out her betrayal of the clan, as it wouldn't the present situation.

"If you're certain, Demona," Ming spoke and then began to dive toward the pilot, who was just beginning to get up.

Ming took a passing swipe at the pilot as she came closer. He had only just gotten to his feet, and was essentially floored by the attack. It knocked him to the ground and made him lose the gun he was reaching for besides. Ming meanwhile landed a few feet away from him. She nervously assumed the basic fighting stance that Yama had taught all of Je Lu's clan as part of his martial arts training. She was silent as she did so.

The pilot, however, was not so quiet. With a great scream of anger, he jumped to his feet and charged at the Tibetan gargoyle. He dove at her waist, intending to take her to the ground and beat the gargoyle to a pulp for attacking them. Ming managed to dodge the initial attack, but the pilot dropped low and then pivoted on one foot and swung his other leg around to take Ming to the ground. When he returned to his feet, he then moved to try and stomp on the fallen gargoyle.

Ming did not let him do that, however, and was quick to roll away before his foot hit the ground where she had been. The pilot only watched as Ming got back to her feet and resumed her fighting stance.

"Are you honestly treating this like some boxing match?!" the pilot gasped in disbelief, and then kicked the ground throwing snow and a few small rocks into Ming's eyes, "this is a fight to the DEATH fool! There are no rules."

"No rules?" Ming questioned and then slashed at the pilot with her talons ready.

The blow caught the pilot around the chest, and Ming's talons easily tore through his bullet-proof vest and knocked the man back. He gripped his chest trying to hold back the pain he felt. Ming then moved forward and kicked the pilot in the chest, sending him crashing into a portion of the raised pillar that Demona had raised to incapacitate the helicopter the man had been piloting. He bounced hard of the rock and fell unconscious after he hit the ground.

The copilot managed to draw his gun as he staggered to his feet, but he wasn't in much shape to do much of anything. Xing was slightly more confident in fighting with the man and landed a kick against the copilot's chest as she landed, which knocked him down and sent him skidding back. She assumed her own stance while the copilot tried to shake the cobwebs out of his head.

"Surrender!" Xing growled at him.

"Never, Illuminatus!" the copilot growled back and turned his gun on Xing while he tried to get up.

Xing managed to avoid the first two shots, but the third ended up going through one of her wing membranes. It was not a serious wound, but it still hurt nonetheless. Xing cringed and twisted around and slapped the man in the face with her tail. The blow stung the man's eyes and made him stagger backward. He raised a hand and began to rub his eyes to try and alleviate the stinging sensation he felt there.

Xing tried to advance in the hopes of trying finish the copilot off, but he raised his gun with his other hand and then fired two shots blindly. The first shot was well wide of Xing, but the second caught her in the shoulder before she even had a chance to try and dodge the shot. Xing roared with pain and on muscle reflex thrust one arm forward, and connected with the man's chest in a rather ineffective looking swipe.

The blow, however, did far more then what Xing expected. He didn't expect to be on the receiving end of a physical attack and the swipe on Xing's part sent him staggering backward. He ended up slipping on some lose rocks and then tumbling over the edge and falling down into the rocky and snow covered gorge below them. Xing dove to try and catch him, but she missed, and the copilot ended up falling to his doom. Xing couldn't watch the man's final moments.

"He's dead," Xing gasped.

"Yes," Demona nodded as she came down for a landing and began to check Xing over. She couldn't let any of her makeshift 'clan', especially Wedrington, suffer any injury that stone-sleep wouldn't cure.

The wounds weren't that bad and she could probably even glide back to their hideout, though she likely wouldn't be able to carry much.

"But… I KILLED him!" Xing spoke.

"I believe it was the fall that actually killed him," Demona corrected, "and it was quite clear that he was trying to kill you. Something all warriors must accept is that their 'job' often requires that they kill someone."

Xing did not answer as she was still uncomfortable with the entire situation.

"I know that you and your clan is not used to this and doesn't like having to fight anyone," Demona spoke, "you've never had to fight anyone before, and suddenly being in a war is tough. Every gargoyle in my old clan felt much the same way when they had to fight their first battle."

"I do not like the idea of killing," Xing spoke, "restraining, maybe, but I do not like killing."

"Few do, according to what I've learned from Wedrington, but I must tell you that I've had a very hard life," Demona told the Tibetan female, "I'm afraid I'm probably not the one to talk to about all this."

Xing only sighed, "we're still to take what we can carry away from this chopper?"

"Ming and I will carry what we can," Demona spoke, "I'd prefer that you relax and not strain yourself."

Demona then turned back to the helicopter she had used magic to restrain.

**The Cave**

Yama, meanwhile, took the rest of the group through fairly basic katas and training exercises that the Ishimuran clan normally learned while they were hatchlings. It seemed odd, even to Yoshi, to be teaching adults the skills hatchlings were taught, but then from what they had learned, the Tibetan clan had never had to fight anyone for years. And, their personal philosophies were all non-violent in any way, be it protecting, attacking, or for sport, the way humans had wrestling and boxing matches, and martial arts tournaments.

As a result, it was no surprise to Yama that they had been beaten when Khan's supermen first attacked them. The Tibetan clan had no need for warrior training and devoted its time to peaceful philosophy, ironically, something many warriors wanted pursue rather then combat, but this left them vulnerable to Khan's supermen. This meant that Yama and Yoshi were now teaching Je Lu and his clan how fight, in the sense of teaching martial arts.

Wedrington was there as well, and seemed fairly interested, though Yama and Yoshi found his skill set to be different from the Tibetans. He didn't have the skills that most of the Ishimuran clan did, or the experience that Goliath and his clan did, but he did know some basic self defense moves, which was a decent starting point for the white lion-like gargoyle. He followed the Tibetans as Yama and Yoshi took them through the basic beginning points of their training, but both Ishimuran gargoyles agreed that Wedrington was ready for more of the advanced training and preparation that Demona was giving to other members of Je Lu's clan.

And that was where both Yama and Yoshi were nervous. As untrained and unprepared for combat as the Tibetan clan was, it was not wise to take them out, even on small raids that only harassed Khan's supply lines. Such training would work to give those who were somewhat more advanced more confidence for when the big battle came, but would be a serious liability for those that were inexperienced. Both Yama and Yoshi voiced their concerns, but Demona largely dismissed them, saying that her powers as a sorceress would insure that that those with her suffered no serious injury.

Yama and Yoshi didn't believe that, but they weren't about to argue. So far, Kay hadn't broken the spell Demona had placed on him to make him guard them during the day, so they guessed that her magic could do a lot for them.

"Is this right?" a Tibetan female asked nervously.

"You'll want to crouch a little more and widen your stance a little," Yama instructed, "it'll improve your balance and allow you to go through the rest of the kata."

"But that isn't the way you or Yoshi stand," the female spoke.

"Yes, but it is important to remember that while there are rules for the forms… it is important you retain a stance and outward form that is comfortable for you," Yama explained, "If you try to stick the perceived rules to the point that you're uncomfortable, you wouldn't be able to respond to attacks in a real battle situation."

"Like this?" the female asked.

Yama nodded.

**Khan's Base**

"We've received a report from our units at Alxa Youqi," Khan's second reported as he entered Khan's office, "the supply chopper did not arrive."

"It didn't?" Khan asked as he looked up from the maps he was studying.

"Yes sir," the second in command nodded, "I've sent out some search teams, but I'd fear we've already lost the supplies."

"Yes," Khan nodded, "likely Demona's little training runs with the gargoyles with her. She's been attacking our supply lines on occasion."

"We ought to attack her cave," the second in command spoke, "we know where it is. We could easily annihilate it with a few bombs during the day."

"We could, but remember according to what we've learned from the Illuminati's own files," Khan pointed out, "Demona is a wild card in every sense of the word. She is temperamental, hates humanity, a skilled sorceress, and above all immortal. We can not kill her. And as much as Marilyn and Damien like to think they can, that is impossible."

"So we're to let her ravage our supply lines, benefiting the Illuminati?" the second in command wondered.

"In a sense, yes," Khan answered, "So long as she if focused on these small raids on our supplies, we can focus on our real enemy, the Illuminati. Need I remind you that even after China falls the Illuminati will continue to fight. North Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, and possibly a few of the former Soviet Republics may be roped in to this, under the "suspicion" that I'm some reincarnation of Hitler seeking to destroy the world."

"It is our intention to conquer it," the second commented, "We both know the Illuminati will eventually cook up some perceived threat on our part to other countries, exposing your plans. We can not let Demona continue to run wild behind our lines."

"Probably not," Khan nodded, "but dealing with her will require both Marilyn and Damien together, since she will need to be restrained, which therefore will require both of them to overpower her. The rest of her group is of no consequence. They're using Demona's magic the same way we are using Marilyn and Damien. Without Demona, they'll fall apart… but until China is completely ours, and we have the room to maneuver a bit, both Marilyn and Damien will be needed at times to deal with matters at the front."

"Marilyn's the only one at the front so far," the second suggested, "perhaps you could let Damien patrol the area. If this incident is like the others it shouldn't be too far away. He could easily patrol the area at night, which is what we made him to do."

Khan nodded, "and it would let him get his wish to battle with Demona, wouldn't it. What is the radius of the attacks on our supply lines?"

"No more then ten miles from here," the second replied, "or at least that's where we've found the wreckage of what has been attacked. She may have attacked them closer and they managed to flee that far… or they traveled that far as they crashed."

Khan nodded, "Then give Damien the good news. He is to escort our supply helicopters for ten miles every night from now on, but tell him to try and stay out of sight. Perhaps we can get luck and Damien will disorient Demona enough that we can capture her."

The second in command nodded.

"Have you received any word from Marilyn on how the advance is going?" Khan wondered.

"The siege of Hainan island continues," his second in command reported, "though we might be able make some landings at Haikou soon. From there the Pro-Illuminati forces will be worn down. Marilyn is most concerned about the eventual drive for Beijing. I believe she is concerned she won't be given an opportunity to lead the attack."

"As the bulk of our forces are farther south from where the most direct route of advance is," Khan chuckled, "when you get the time, tell her not to worry. She will be there for main attack. Also instruct her to raid the Chinese supply base at Shantou, alone. It will have the supplies Demona intercepted."

"At once, sir," his second responded.

**The waters off of Hainan Island**

A lone Chinese destroyer slowly made its way toward the island that Khan's forces had under a state of siege. A siege that since the fall of Hong Kong had become worse. And now, Chinese ships had been damaged by small pirate sized raiders. So far, the Chinese navy had controlled the waters around China without intervention. The United States Navy was stronger, but they remained around Taiwan and in a largely defensive stance, allowing the Chinese to patrol their own waters, which the Chinese government and navy supported.

This did not help them, though. Khan was giving these pirates weaponry that was allowing the pirates to actually engage the Chinese fleet with some chances of success. They had seriously damaged one destroyer, and if it weren't for a second warship coming to support the first, they would have sunk it. And that had turned most of that convoy around. Now, they were making another attempt to reinforce and resupply the Pro-Illuminati troops on the island and pick up the wounded. The ships captain looked somewhat nervous as they went.

Not so much that the pirates allied with Khan might attack, but that the anti-Illuminati flyers that Khan had would try to bomb the convoy, or that Khan's sorceress would attack them. They were after all the bigger threat. But neither of those threats appeared. Instead it was once again the threat that had been challenging the Chinese fleet of late. It was pirates.

"They're coming at about fifty five knots," the radar officer reported, "they appear to have torpedoes tied to the side of the boat."

"Torpedoes?"

"Yes, sir," the radar officer nodded, "and it appears to be on a collision course with us!"

The captain then turned to look out a window to see a small speck running straight towards the destroyer. He pulled up a pair of binoculars to look at it, and that gave him a better outline of a small speed boat. Although, it did look as though it was a military grade craft and not some altered small time fishing boat.

"Pull hard to port to avoid them, arm our guns!" the captain ordered.

The ship began to turn, and he glanced to see his destroyer's guns turning to aim at the smaller boat rushing toward them. As it came closer, though, his executive officer noticed something.

"Sir, I don't see any crew on that boat!"

"What?" the captain gasped, "then how is it turning?"

And sure enough, the small pirate boat was turning. Turing to keep itself aimed at the warship, but there were no crew on the ship.

"Can we hit it?" the captain asked, referring to the destroyer's naval guns.

"It's too close already sir," the gunnery officer spoke nervously as the small craft sped toward the at high speed.

"Abandon ship!" the captain ordered, "All hands, abandon…"

He was cut off as the small boat sped toward his ship and then detonated both torpedoes against the hull of the ship. What followed was a violent explosion that was felt for miles away. This actually paused the convoy as the ships dodged to avoid speed boat attacks. But none came.

On the shore, a Chinese pirate leader stood beside one of Khan's officers watching the destruction of the Chinese destroyer.

"You didn't hit one of the supply ships," Khan's officer.

"What does it matter?" the pirate answered, "this whole mission was to test the radio control equipment your leader has sent down here. Does it matter whether the sunken ship is a supply ship or a destroyer?"

"The destroyer is not carrying supplies for the troops on Hainan Island," the officer answered, "the supply ships are. Which is why they were the target."

"And if we were to board and loot the ships, I'd agree," the pirate replied, "but we'd end up dead if we were to do that."

"The sinking of the ship would help our siege of the island," the officer spoke, "the destroyer is inconsequential."

"Not from a propaganda point of view," the pirate retorted, "You've made a bold statement by sinking their warship… a statement that you are no to be trifled with."

"The present war is a land war," the officer pointed out, "Controlling the sea doesn't matter. If the Chinese are forced to intern their fleet in foreign harbors, they will be defeated. Taiwan will not allow Communist Chinese warships to use their cities as a base, and neither will South Korea or Japan. North Korea might, but they border China directly. Khan can invade them once China falls."

"Just remember, I sacrificed my boat for your little experiment," the pirate reminded the officer, "therefore it is my victory and I intend to enjoy it. If you're so concerned about the soldiers on the island, then perhaps you should assault their positions and be done with it."

The officer only gave a frustrated sigh.

**Shantou**

Marilyn quietly entered a large supply depot on the outskirts of Shantou. It was well protected to insure that the munitions inside couldn't be destroyed by bombs or missiles, or at least not easily. But the structure had been constructed hastily in order to make it transportable, should the front lines approach it, and this allowed Marilyn to easily sneak in.

"All too easy," Marilyn commented as she left two guards peacefully sleeping as if nothing was wrong.

There would likely be other guards on duty, as Marilyn began transporting them to the lines that Khan's men controlled, but it was unlikely that she'd run into serious opposition. Demona was in Tibet now, as far as she knew, and the Illuminati wouldn't send an agent to defend a supply dump. Her task was easy as she started by making several crates of ammunition, weapons, gasoline, diesel fuel, and other pieces of equipment that would be needed invisible to all eyes but her own. Once she had it all, she lifted up the items needed through her magic and they harmlessly floated behind her as she made her way out through the large loading doors.

As she came out, she stumbled into a pair of soldiers who had just discovered the bodies of their two sleeping comrades.

"It's the witch!" the first of the two soldiers shouted in alarm, "we're under attack!"

The second raised his rifle and aimed it toward Marilyn, letting her know what he intended to do. Before a shot could even be fire, Marilyn turned chanted something. Almost instantaneously, the man's clothing burst into flames. He dropped his weapon and backed away, screaming in pain. The first man fired two shots, which hit Marilyn in the shoulder, but her body armor absorbed most of the impact, and since the bullets weren't iron, her powers in magic helped heal the rest.

"I am afraid that you'll have to do better then that," Marilyn commented with a smile and delivered a strong kick to the man's chest.

The kick threw the man backward until he collided with a parked truck and collapsed to the ground. He didn't move, but the brief scuffle did raise alarms from the camps near the supply depot. Marilyn would have to be fast to avoid being detected.

**The Cave**

Wedrington was quiet as Demona returned to the cave that they were all operating from with Xing and Ming following behind, along with a several crates of military hardware. He guessed that they would be mostly for the 'enslaved' superman, Kay, but Wedrington wasn't really going to wonder about any details. As he approached, he noticed that Xing was carrying some gunshot wounds. One was through one of her wings, while the other was through a shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Wedrington asked as he approached the group.

"We're fine, largely," Demona answered.

"Xing's been shot!" Je Lu gasped as he approached.

"It's not bad," Xing told her leader, "it'll heal during the day."

"If Khan does not attack during the day," Yama commented, "which is another reason why I suggested this wait until they've completed the training that will be required."

"You'd think he'd attack during the day?" Wedrington wondered.

"It would be the strategically wise thing to do," Yama answered, "all we have for a daytime guardian is the superman that Demona enslaved, and to be honest, if Khan is anything like what you think he is… he wouldn't care about that. We're helpless during the day and Kay is only one man… one who can not repel an attack from several men… at least not for long."

"He has not attacked us yet," Demona pointed out.

Several of the Tibetan gargoyles nodded in agreement at this.

"Given, but that doesn't mean he could," Yama commented, "I do not presume to know Khan's plans, but he might not have attacked us because he does not consider us to be a threat to him at the present time. Which is why I disapprove of these raids. It will attract Khans attention. It may convince him that we are a foe worth fighting. And then what will we do if he attacks at dawn… or merely during the day?"

"That is where these raids come in," Demona tried to explain, "they will grant us the weaponry and firepower to hold off any assault force for some time. Which is why we've mostly been stealing guns, ammunition, RPGs, hand held surface to air missiles…"

"Kay is only one man," Yoshi commented, "he couldn't possibly operate all that equipment. At least not in a manner that would be considered effective."

"Ultimately these weapons will be controlled by an automated system," Demona explained, "and equipment won't be that hard to get."

"Where?" Shi La asked, "the Illuminati map indicated that there are no other Illuminati bunkers in Tibet that we could use… and even outside Tibet, it's likely that Khan has found them."

"And I doubt you'd storm Khan's base to get the equipment needed," Yama commented, "it would defeat the purpose of stealing these weapons."

"Khan may not have gone into those other bunkers," Demona spoke, "and if he has… then perhaps we could borrow some equipment from a different Illuminati base. China isn't an island."

"This all carries an awful lot of risk," Yama warned.

"There are risks in everything, you should know that," Demona told him.

"Maybe, but I do not want to risk dishonor by committing rash actions," Yama warned.

"Nothing dishonorable has been done," Demona answered, "and if it looks like Khan might move against us during the day… if he finds us… we'll move to a safer spot."

"Are you sure," Wedrington asked the immortal female, sounding concerned, "they do have concerns that could be considered legitimate."

"Trust me," Demona answered, "I know the risks. I will not let anyone needlessly be killed…"

And at that moment, the sun rose, and only Kay remained "awake" as the gargoyles turned to stone for the day.

**To Be Continued…**


	18. Khanate

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place three weeks after "Training Guerillas".

Khanate

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Beijing**

The past three weeks had not gone well for those trying to retain the Illuminati's control over China. They had suffered defeat after defeat after defeat from Khan's forces, usually with his sorceress aiding them. Khan's attack toward Hong Kong, however, opened up an opening for the Pro-Illuminati Chinese to launch an offensive in the northern part of Khan's line. The region was more desolate and sparsely populated. And considering the number of troops Khan had put into the attack to the south, it was also assumed that the line there was weak. Things quickly went from bad to worse.

At first the attack seemed to go well. One, now in Beijing with Five looked optimistic at the possibility of driving all the way into Tibet and retaking the fortress that Khan had initially overrun, possibly capturing the rebellious superman outright. But those hopes were quickly dashed when Khan's sorceress appeared on the battle field. Their attack was blunted, and sound ground to a halt, but with so few troops in the region, Khan didn't go onto the offensive. And with only the sorceress and a small fraction of Khan's supporters there, One and Five gambled, moving troops from their southern sector to try and overpower Khan's sorceress.

That was when Khan sprung a trap he had waiting for them. As soon as their southern troops began to move north to battle Khan's sorceress when she appeared again, this time in the southern sector, leading a full blown offensive. The Illuminati forces were caught in a massive pincer that eventually served to destroy most of the forces they had in China. One and Five then rapidly began to disengage the remaining pro-Illuminati troops from the region. The trap had served to destroy too much of their forces and left them with questions that needed answering.

These questions mostly revolved around Khan's sorceress. At first it was thought that Khan had found a second witch to serve his needs, but the two appeared identical. Then it was guessed that the second sorceress was a clone of the first. But that wasn't entirely likely. Magic was difficult to duplicate and Illuminati scientists, mostly through what Xanatos had provided them from Sevarius's work had assumed that while cloning a magic user was possible, unless the original host was always present, an army of magical clones was impossible. Eventually they'd have a clone that had all the DNA but no magic. And the Illuminati did not leave any Illuminati agent that could do magic at the Tibetan base, so Khan's sorceress had to have come from somewhere else. How he got access to her was unknown, and it didn't look like they'd get real answers anytime soon.

"How is he doing this?" Five demanded, slamming his fists down on a table, "Not only does he somehow discerns our entire strategy, but strikes at us with two versions of his sorceress."

"Ultimately through our own technology, most likely" One answered simply, sounding frustrated, but not displaying that frustration as easily.

"Our technology?" Five asked back, "Surely we cut the Tibet base from our network."

"We did," One replied.

"Then how could he get our devices working?" Five questioned.

"One, we were never able to recover the actual devices in the Tibet base," One began, "they likely rebooted the systems from the power sources available to them. Two, we bread Khan and the supermen to be highly intelligent. It would not surprise me if they've created a program that runs on our tech, but carries their information… it also wouldn't surprise me if Khan has somehow hacked into our network without our detection."

"Then we made them too smart," Five grumbled.

"Perhaps, but there is no escaping that now," One answered.

"So how is he getting the same sorceress to appear in two places at once?" Five questioned, "I mean the specifics?"

"Likely time travel," One answered.

"But the time travel studies were not being carried out in Tibet," Five pointed out, "even if he downloaded the designs for them, he didn't have the material to build a time machine… and even if he did, all the experimenting being done scientifically has failed and we've had to add magic to it."

One nodded slightly, "perhaps the sorceress has conjured the items he needs and provided the magic required. Many of those details are a mystery."

Five only grumbled.

"Once he got the machine he needed, he then sent his sorceress back in time for some version of his sorceress that exists in the past," One then explained.

"That could destroy the known universe… or at least Khan's sorceress and his successes…" Five gasped.

"Only if they can not return the first sorceress back the time from when she came," One commented, "which will make it all the more important to kill one of Khan's 'two' witches. If it's the present one, he can not repeat the act, and if it's the past one… everything that Khan has accomplished will unravel."

Five looked at the map they had been studying. Khan's forces had advanced to a line running from Bayan Qbo to Baotou to Dongsheng to Fugu to Taiyuan to Jiexiu to Jinan and following the Huang He River to the sea. He had only to take Beijing before he would truly control China. Of the Chinese army before his uprising, forty percent had joined the rebellion… and of them, Khan had presently liberated seventy five percent. But of the sixty percent that remained loyal to the Illuminati, thirty percent had been killed by Khan's troops, thirty percent had been defeated by Khan's sorceress, ten percent had been captured through other means. Only the remaining thirty percent was free to serve the Illuminati. They needed a dramatic and some might say miraculous victory.

**Cave, Tibet**

"Ouch!" a Tibetan female grumbled as Yama caught her attempted kick and then landed a blow to her midsection, sending her tumbling backward.

"That was marked improvement," Yama told her from where he stood, "You are beginning to catch on to the basics and these sparring sessions will help you improve and figure out the best way to adapt to the skills required."

"My bruises have bruises!" the female answered.

"Better then being killed by one of the Supermen in a battle for your life when you are unprepared," Yama answered, "remember that they will be armed when it comes time to fight them. Being able to dodge and act quickly will be the only thing that could save you from being mortally wounded or killed outright."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments while Yama sighed heavily. He was doing his best to train the Tibetan as quickly as possible, but it was still a slow route. Yama was the only other gargoyle there with real training, and Wedrington and Demona were the only ones with real experience against anything like these supermen. And Wedrington commonly stated that his experience probably wasn't good enough. He helped with the basics, but he couldn't go beyond that. The Tibetans, meanwhile, hadn't even gone that far.

Yet, Demona continued to insist on leading the raids on Khan's supply lines in the area. This was the thing that Yama didn't like. The Tibetan gargoyles were largely untrained, and yet Demona was deliberately placing them in harms way to carry out these raids. She was confident that she could protect them with her magic from sustaining serious wounds, but Yama was not so sure. None of the Ishimuran clan had any knowledge of magic, and neither had they faced one who did. Even still, Yama guessed that its strengths only went as far as Demona could focus. That meant that she couldn't protect everyone with her magic, no matter how strong she was.

Yama had tried to convince Demona that it was a foolish risk to try and get the Tibetans experience by sending them without training against trained soldiers. If the opponents were just as 'green' as the Tibetans were, that would be one thing, but what they faced was quite another. And as a result, Yama was forced to accelerate the training for the rest of the Tibetans as fast as he could, which left him in the current position he was in. He was thankful that Wedrington was helping with the basics and that Yoshi was helping as well. Without their help, Yama was quite certain the Tibetans would not have come as far as they had.

"It is to help you progress," Yoshi spoke up as he intervened, "and you have all progressed well."

"Thank you, I guess," the Tibetan female replied, "I apologize if we aren't progressing fast enough."

"Proper training is not something to be rushed," Yama answered, "when done correctly it takes time and usually does not involve sending untrained warriors against armed soldiers."

"You do not approve of Demona's plans?" Je Lu asked as many of the other Tibetan gargoyles gathered.

"I do not think it the smartest thing to do, but I am not familiar with magic," Yama answered, "she may be right in her faith that her abilities will protect her."

"She can do a lot," Wedrington commented, "so long as she keeps these raids in small groups, I thick she shouldn't have any trouble."

**Khan's Base**

Khan, meanwhile, was in his own conference. The past three weeks had gone well for the rebellious superman. Thanks to a bit of ingenious planning, his forces were poised for a major victory over the Pro-Illuminati forces in China. He had anticipated the attack in the north as a likely move as the reports came in about how the area had weakened as more troops were rushed south to aid in the Hong Kong campaign. His solution to the problem was an exquisite trap.

It involved using both Damien and Marilyn, but ultimately, the end result was worth the risk. The 'sorceress' that the Illuminati ran into in the north was not Marilyn but Damien using an illusion spell to make him look like Marilyn. The trick worked perfectly. Damien blunted the northern attack, leaving Marilyn free to lead the attack in the south. And when the trap was sprung, they were successful in nearly annihilating the Pro-Illuminati forces.

Of course, the victory didn't come without risks. By sending Damien to the front that meant that his rear areas were not as well protected. The Illuminati couldn't invade with foreign armies because they had to play by the rules that nations seemed to follow. No nation interfered in the internal squabbles of another. But Khan didn't put it past the Illuminati to mount some sort of commando raids. To make it look like there were guerillas in his rear that he had ignored.

They, however, were not Khan's first concern. The Illuminati continued to fight him the way he expected them to. The problem was Demona. So far she had limited herself to a series of raids on his supply convoys, doing little real damage. But she was still an untested variable. She knew magic and was as strong as any of his soldiers, and based by what files he had been able to access on her from the Illuminati, she had the reputation of being absolutely ruthless. He needed China to fall, and fall quickly, so he could at least recall Damien to Tibet.

At was the reason for the present conference between Khan, Marilyn, and Damien.

"The time has come," Khan ordered, "We must insure that China is ours, and quickly."

"What about our supplies though?" Marilyn questioned, "we've only received eighty percent of the supplies manufactured in the Tibet base that you've sent. The Illuminati could have a secret weapon around Beijing."

"The loss of the supplies is Demona's doing," Khan answered, "she appears to be stealing the goods carried by the convoys she's attacked. It is also why you must begin the dive on Beijing as soon as possible."

"It will be done!" Damien answered.

Marilyn only nodded, "I'd think it wiser to destroy Demona first, but if you really think we can pull this off…"

"Of course," Khan answered, "The Illuminati can not find Demona, and she has been limited to small raids. Victory over China is assured."

**Jinan, Shandong Province**

Marilyn only sighed as the connection with Tibet was ended. Apparently the final battle with China was first on the agenda. A couple of Anti-Illuminati officers were present. Of them, only one of them was a member of Khan's genetically engineered supermen.

"We are to attack as soon as possible," Marilyn said slowly.

"Attack, ma'am?" one of the officers asked, "what about our supplies?"

"Khan believes that Demona is responsible for our loss of supplies and wants us to finish this war quickly so that she can be dealt with," Marilyn answered.

"And what of Damien?" a different officer asked, "dawn isn't THAT far away, and they may transfer troops to our sector when the realize that 'you' are not in the north."

"Remember that the goal is to encircle Beijing and hopefully trap the government leaders there," Marilyn answered, "we will be fighting those in the north eventually. If they attack us sooner, our goal will be to hold out and wait for the northern units to complete the encirclement."

"Of course, madam," they both bowed.

"Now, if you excuse me, I have some havoc to bring down on the Illuminati," Marilyn said with a slight smile.

A lone Chinese Pro-Illuminati soldier dove into his foxhole when artillery shells began falling all along the front. The whole war had so far been one mistake after another for them. Hampered by anti-Illuminati troops behind them and Khan's forces behind them, they were unable to adequate fight both when Khan was isolated in Tibet. And then Khan's sorceress joined the battles and turned the whole affair into a slaughterhouse for anyone who supported the Illuminati. And now the battle was starting again, and he knew that if he failed, Khan would never be stopped. He had to win.

He readied his weapon and watched out over the ground to the south of him. The attack mirrored one of the standards of Khan's strategy. Concentrated fire of artillery on strong points to be followed by tanks or his sorceress. The soldier didn't have much to stop tanks, but hoped the mines they had laid would stop them. If it was the sorceress though, he hoped he, one of his comrades would be lucky enough to fire the round that finally ended the witch's life.

"Come to me," a voice said almost seductively on the wind, "Destroy Khan's army on the road."

"Hello?" the soldier asked, wondering what a woman was doing out on the battlefield.

"Come to me," the voice repeated, sounding more insistent, "destroy Khan's army on the road."

"I must destroy Khan's army on the road," the soldier said in an almost trance like state before shaking his mind clear and sliding back into his foxhole.

"DESTROY KHAN'S ARMY ON THE ROAD!" the voice said again, "COME TO ME!"

The voice said more insistent, yet still hypnotic. The soldier got out of his foxhole and began to walk toward the road.

"Come to me," the voice returned to its seductive tone, "Destroy Khan's army on the road…"

The soldier staggered on. He was joined by nearly all the other soldiers in that area. After a few moments later an officer came to the region to deliver orders when he noticed his men advancing toward the road they had just mined.

"What are you doing?!" the officer demanded, "we're under fire! Return to your foxholes!"

His voice wasn't heard and was soon unable to even try to snap them out of their trance as Marilyn appeared behind him and watched as the soldiers were blown to bits by the mines they had laid earlier.

"And where would be the fun in that?" Marilyn questioned and snapped the officer's neck.

**Tibet**

Meanwhile, Demona crouched low among the great rocks of the mountains of the Tibetan plateau looking down a narrow road where an convoy of trucks would drive through. To her the raids were important in getting the Tibetan gargoyles ready for the coming battles with Khan's forces. She knew that Yama and Yoshi were opposed to it, and that Wedrington was uneasy with it, but experience was the best teacher in her mind. Being an expert in martial arts didn't bring about victory. Having the right mentality and figuring out how to strategize a fight did, and that wasn't an aspect of fighting that was unique to the martial arts styles of East Asia.

By raiding small lightly guarded convoys or supply missions, the Tibetan gargoyles would be able to apply what Yama taught them against an actual opponent. And since the targets were relatively small, Demona was completely confident that her magic would be more then enough to insure that the situation remained relatively within the abilities of the Tibetan gargoyles to avoid serious injury.

With her on the present raid were Shi La and a Tibetan named Mei-Tee.

"Okay," Demona began, "the convoy is only two trucks. When they get close to where we are, I will cause a rockslide that they will crash into. You will then deal with the supermen in the back of the trucks. They should be disoriented by the collision, so if you go after their weapons first, you should be able to prevent them from killing you outright."

"What if the rockslide buries the trucks instead of landing in front of them?" Mei-Tee questioned.

"One less group of supermen to worry about," Demona answered with very little real care.

And Demona did not care about Khan or any of his supermen. Neither could she say that she cared about the humans that Khan had mislead. Their fighting and their war was THEIR affair. Not hers. She would be involved in it so long as to insure that Khan was gone and the Tibetan gargoyles could resume their lives, but the human affairs mattered little to her. She did not desire humanity's destruction and wouldn't actively seek to become the 'Queen' of Earth, but that did not mean she liked humans… and the two that she might even consider 'liking' had been turned into gargoyles, the Detective and Wedrington.

"That seems a little harsh, Demona," Shi La commented, "the soldiers that serve Khan may not ALL be supermen."

"They are still enemies that are supportive of him," Demona answered, "they will not stop long enough to let you try to talk them out of it…" she then sighed, "…we are in a war, Shi La. And warriors generally do not back down until the war is over, in either victory or defeat."

Shi La sighed heavily. She did not like war. Her clan had fled to Tibet from their original home in Beijing to get away from the wars between the Nationalist and the Communist Chinese. Now, her clan was being forced into a war between Khan and those opposed the Illuminati against those who support the Illuminati. She was, however, unable to say anything more as the sound of an engine was heard in the distance.

"Here they come," Demona said in a low voice and crouched low to keep herself out of sight.

Two trucks then rounded a turn to appear on the road and began driving toward where Demona and the other two were hiding. Just as was about to cast the spell that would send a rockslide down to trap the trucks, two rockets flew out from among several rocks on the other side of the road. The rockets destroyed both trucks and forced Demona to use one of her wings as a shield as shrapnel flew up toward them.

"What was that?!" Mei-Tee wondered.

"An attack," Demona answered, "we should leave."

"Look!" Shi La spoke pointing down toward the smoking wreckage of the two trucks.

Demona looked down to see three men emerge from behind the rocks where the rockets had flown from tem. They were dressed in red and black commando gear with a pyramid on their right shoulder.

"The Illuminati," Demona growled.

"They still oppose Khan, I see," Mei-Tee commented, "does this mean they're still fighting in the eastern part of China?"

"I don't…" Demona began to answer when she looked down to see the men activate jetpacks that they had on their backs and rocket up to where Demona and her two 'trainees' were standing.

"You are a difficult one to track down," the leading commando commented as he and his men landed on a different part of the ledge.

"You've been hunting me?" Demona growled.

"Not hunting," the leader spoke, "looking for. Fate it appears has given us a common enemy in this war."

"I fight Khan because he has wronged the local clan," Demona answered.

"The why matters little," the leading commando answered, "we are still fighting the same enemy."

"And you want us to fight him for you," Demona surmised.

"Khan will be defeated in time," the commando answered, "the problem is his sorceress. We need someone to defeat her."

"Marilyn…" Demona growled.

"What?" one of the other two commandos asked.

"The sorceress's name is Marilyn," Shi La told them.

"The Council is prepared to help train your little army if you would agree to work with us to defeat… Marilyn," the leading commando spoke to Demona.

"So they can become your research project?" Demona answered, "It is probably for the best in THIS case that we work together, but I still do not trust you… and I will not put the Tibetan clan in a position where you can betray them."

The leading commando locked on.

"For the sake of fighting the same enemy, I can cooperate… but there will be major concessions that you will give to all gargoyles in exchange for my help… and you will allow me to continue the war in my own way," Demona spoke, "if you want to control the Tibetan clan… then you're on your own."

"We aren't much of a position to try and control anyone at the moment," the leading commando answered.

"All the same, I will see to the training of the Tibetan gargoyles on my own," Demona answered, "if your masters enlarge the war, you are to meet me here to discuss whatever plan they have come up with… but I will not put the Tibetans in a place where they could be betrayed by your Council… they are after all responsible for the current war by creating Khan in the first place."

The commando sighed heavily and looked down for a moment. He then pulled a small walkie-talkie like device from one of the pouches on his belt. He then handed it to Demona.

"It's on a frequency that my sector uses," the leading commando answered, "if we need to contact you, we can use that."

Demona looked at it and nodded slowly.

"And thank you for your help," the leading commando then finished and rocketed off with his two other Illuminati commandos.

**Beijing**

"They've begun two attacks," a Chinese general reported to One and Five, "One in the north and one in the south."

"Where is the sorceress?" Five asked.

"Largely with the southern force," the general answered, "we've tried to get forces ready to reinforce the southern line, but they've only been attacked in the rear in the north. I'm afraid we do not have the reserves to overwhelm her."

"Where are the attacks headed, specifically?" One asked.

The General looked to the map that One and Five were studying.

"The northern attack is largely supporting a single thrust toward Hohhot, and they're actually nearing that city now," the general reported, "the southern attack is backing a single thrust toward Cangzhou. I would tend to think that Khan intends to trap us in massive pincer movement."

"Stopping his sorceress will reverse his successes," One answered, "do what you can to blunt the northern attack. We will stop the attack in the south."

"Yes, my Lords," the general said to the two Illuminati Council members.

**Tibet, the Cave**

Demona, Shi La and Mei-Tee returned to the cave to find that Yama and Yoshi's lessons still going on. Their return, however, brought their attention to them. Wedrington was the one who noticed the walkie-talkie that Demona was carrying.

"What is that?" Wedrington asked, which finally ended the training sessions.

"A means to communicate with the outside," Demona said slowly, "the Illuminati apparently wish to have our help."

"The Illuminati?" Wedrington wondered.

"Yes," Demona nodded, "they ambushed the convoy before I could made a weak attempt at an offer… but we're already fighting Khan… they might prove useful eventually."

"I thought you'd said not to trust them?" Wedrington asked her.

"And I stick to that," Demona sighed, "but so long as Khan is fighting, we might be able to force them to accept a better position for the Tibetan clan when this is all over."

"This seems dangerous," Wedrington warned, "from what you've told me about the Illuminati."

Demona only sighed and placed on hand on Wedrington's shoulder.

"I know… but we may not have much of a choice," Demona told him as the sun rose and they turned to stone for the day.

**Cangzhou, Hebei Province**

Marilyn was fairly pleased with their progress so far in the attack against the Illuminati. The fears that the Illuminati would send forces to crush the flanks of her forces appeared to be false. There were moments of fierce fighting, but her flanks held, and it was the Illuminati that took the worst of the fighting, even when it was fierce.

"We're getting close," one of her officers sad from his command car as they moved through the city, Marilyn floating beside him.

"Yes," Marilyn nodded, "Remember that our goal is to encircle Beijing. We might get lucky and the Premier will be trapped there. Remember that we're to begin a turn toward Tianjin from here."

"Right," the officer acknowledged her.

"Have you heard anything from the northern thrust?" Marilyn asked.

"They've faced tougher fighting, but are still advancing," the officer answered, "they're nearing Jining right now."

Marilyn pondered that for a moment.

"We may need to head north and west in order to complete the encirclement," Marilyn said after a moment.

"We've begun the attack madam," the officer answered, "we will complete it."

"Good," Marilyn nodded as they approached a bridge that spanned a canal or river, Marilyn wasn't sure which.

As they approached though she saw several men run out from under the bridge and toward the ground to the north of them. The officer opened up on them with the machine gun mounted on his command car.

"Keep your men here," Marilyn answered, "you may have gotten the sappers, but they may still have the means to destroy the bridge."

Marilyn then flew down underneath the bridge to find that several sections of the bridge had canisters of explosives attacked to the bridge. One quick teleportation spell and the explosives were gone and landed in the water a hundred yards away. They still set off a geyser of water though when the explosives were triggered.

"Okay," Marilyn began, "You can…"

She was unable to complete the order as a large dragon-like image came down out of nowhere and crushed the bridge, sending it down on top of Marilyn. Marilyn managed to protect herself from being killed, but for the moment, she couldn't do much to counter her attackers. As she moved to climb out from under the debris of the bridge, she heard her men fire and the returned roars of a dragon in the air.

Marilyn managed to climb out on the Illuminati side of the river or canal. She looked to see two lone men standing there. One wore dark colored robes and had a long beard showing from beneath the hood of his cloak. A glass cylinder with a silver dragon encircling it hung from his hip, and the inside of the cylinder seemed to be filled with red, white, and blue smoke, though not in that precise order, and knowing that many countries used those colors, Marilyn didn't try to guess what nationality he was.

The other wore a red and black robe and did nothing to hide his features. He carried a somewhat aristocratic appearance about him. He also wore a large and heavy looking chain with a large gemstone surrounded by gold embellishment to look like the rays from the sun. Inside the gemstone was a dragon's eye.

"So, witch, we meet," the aristocratic man spoke, "we meet, at last."

"You aren't Chinese," Marilyn commented.

"And neither are you," the aristocratic man retorted, "but unlike you, I answer to a cause greater then mere power."

"If you don't want power, then I will accept your surrender of all Illuminati forces in China," Marilyn answered.

"Cute," the aristocratic man, "but was referring to the principle behind Illuminati rule… look at the name of organization Illuminati… we have been illuminated by knowledge that is unknown to everyone else in the world."

"And yet you can't out think your own creation," Marilyn answered, "being smart doesn't make you better, being 'first' doesn't make you better…"

"But preventing chaos does," the aristocratic man answered, "without our guidance the world would have a major war every twenty years, because people are too greedy, too stupid, to unenlightened to know any better. And when they fight, all they do is destroy lives. We maintain peace."

"And expect those better then you to serve you without question," Marilyn answered, "or did you simply not think that your creations would not think for themselves?"

"We are One and Five of the Illuminati Council, witch," the aristocratic man answered, "we have years of experience at maintaining peace and prosperity around the world…"

"The twentieth century was a huge success at that, two World Wars in the space of twenty years and several smaller wars that were equally devastating in those areas," Marilyn shot back, "I am Marilyn. Khan's witch, and if you will not surrender, you will die!"

"It is you who will die!" Five growled and raised the cylinder.

Three ghostly two headed eagles flew out of the cylinder and attacked Marilyn, starting to carry her off. Each of them was one of the colors of the smoke inside the cylinder. As she was lifted into the air, Marilyn noticed the carnage these two had brought on her troops. Vehicles were smashed and bodies lay about the field, though some appeared to only be wounded, and she noticed several groups of infantry hastily digging foxholes on their side of the river or canal.

"You can not beat me!" Marilyn screamed as she ran a strong electric current through her body and electrocuted the three eagles into nothingness and then floated in the air and cast her aim at Five, "Fulminos Venite!"

The lightning blast was easily dodged, but it did allow Marilyn to dive down and then kick Five away while he was still dodging the lightning strike. She had little time to respond as a dragon flew at her from behind. She managed to avoiding taking a serious hit, but it did nock her down and it cut the straps that held the body armor she wore on. She then watched as the 'dragon' then looped up and returned to the gemstone that One was wearing.

"You are not the only one who knows magic," One smirked, "and I doubt even survive the 'Dragon's Eye'."

"We'll see," Marilyn answered and raised up large vines from the ground beneath One.

They wrapped around his legs and arms and held them away from the gemstone on his chest.

"I do not need to hold the gemstone," One growled and called forth the dragon again.

This time, however, Marilyn anticipated the attack and dodged the dragon's charge at her. Then, while the dragon turned around, she rushed One and grabbed the medallion he wore and flipped over him. Once back on he ground, she held the gemstone to the center of his back.

"What are you…" One began before looking back to see the dragon flying back toward him at great speed.

The impact was not pretty or pleasant. Blood spattered everywhere as the dragon flew through One and returned to the gemstone. Marilyn only gave a slight chuckle as she looked at the massive hole in the now dead One. It was short lived as a blue and red two headed eagle took her feet out from under her while a white two headed eagle took the medallion that One had been wearing.

"Not for you!" Five answered.

Marilyn only responded with a lightning spell to the cylinder that he carried. The strange device in a puff of smoke sending the medallion flying away into one field while Five was thrown into a field on the opposite side of road. Marilyn then advanced on him with the full intention of finishing him off. He successfully tripped her as she approached.

"Ah, physical combat," Marilyn answered, "My favorite."

Five then attempted to stomp on Marilyn's face when Marilyn, still on her back, caught his foot and threw him into the air very easily. Marilyn then climbed back to her feet.

"Because like all of the supermen you created," Marilyn spoke triumphantly, "I am stronger then you."

"We didn't create you," Five stammered out as he tried to recover his breath from the throw.

"Yes, Khan, made me, and I will share in his prosperity," Marilyn replied, "for I am strong, and you are weak."

Five threw a punch at Marilyn, only to have her dodge, grab the arm and then twist it till it was dislocated. Five screamed in pain, but Marilyn pulled him into a wrestling hold that put the Illuminati Council member at a serious disadvantage.

"You might have been strong once," Marilyn said triumphantly, "but that time has passed."

And with that she snapped his neck.

**Unknown Location**

"She won't go to the Nepal base?" Three growled into the communications screen in the main Illuminati headquarters.

"We were lucky she agreed to work with us at all," the commando answered, "She fears we would experiment on the other gargoyles."

"We probably would," Three grumbled, "Demona is the only one of value."

The commando seemed to catch that, "Yes, and she seemed to sense that desire. We believe she will work with us, but I doubt she do anything big until she thinks she's trained up the other gargoyles."

That left Three heavily frustrated. Khan had begun a major offensive, likely the one that Khan intended to take Beijing with, but so far no reports had come in. He had hoped that there would be some good news to come in that would give them something to be optimistic about, and as unlikely as it sounded, an alliance with Demona would do just that. But for now, all they could hope for was loose cooperation.

**Tibet, Khan's Base**

"Do we control Beijing?" Khan asked.

"Not as yet, sir," Marilyn answered, "tougher then expected resistance at Cangzhou has slowed us down."

"I do not like delays," Khan answered, "there are matters that must be finished soon."

"You may like this one," Marilyn answered, "One and Five were the cause of it. We took heavy casualties, but they were defeated, and I am sending the bodies to you."

"One and Five?" Khan asked.

"Yes," Marilyn nodded, "and I killed BOTH of them."

"What report have you received from Damien's forces?" Khan asked.

"They've moved slowly because of Damien's stone sleep, but the Chinese have not proven they could stop his forces anyway," Marilyn answered, "they have taken Jining and are driving to Shangdu. I expect they will advance faster come nightfall, and with One and Five gone, your Khanate is assured."

"That is good news," Khan smiled, "Good news indeed."

**To Be Continued…**


	19. Broken…

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place immediately after "Khanate".

Broken…

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Beijing**

Marilyn strode confidently into the Chinese capital as it had finally fallen to Khan's forces. China was essentially theirs. What remained of its army was broken and in retreat into Manchuria. Their forces would eventually advance into that region and end the present phase of the war, but that was unimportant. The important part of the battle had occurred during the attack toward the Chinese capital and Marilyn's fight with Five and One from the Illuminati Council. Their death would break the Illuminati's ability to control their soldiers while they squabbled amongst themselves over who would lead them.

But that would still come later. For now, she could enjoy strolling through the streets of the Chinese capital. For the most part it appeared deserted and damaged… broken by the riots and by the initial attacks made on the city. Much of the famous Forbidden City were only smoking ruins now, thanks to a few hits from artillery. The hits weren't intentional, Marilyn had the sense that the Chinese people wouldn't take kindly to the destruction of their historical artifacts. She decided she research the matter of rebuilding it, or restoring it before mentioning it with Khan and his Second-in-Command.

As she turned to head up another street, one of the supermen under her command in the area approached and saluted her.

"My lady," the superman reported, "we have secured the main government offices."

"Excellent, lieutenant," Marilyn answered, "perhaps with One and Five dead, we can persuade the Chinese government to surrender to Khan's forces… eh?"

The superman gave a half nervous gulp, "that is the other part of my report, my Lady… and I fear it is not one that would be of your liking."

"They've fled, haven't they?" Marilyn questioned, her mood immediately souring.

"Yes, my lady," the superman nodded, "I do not know where they could have gone."

"It'll be Shenyang in Liaoning Province, Changchun in Jilin Province, or Harbin in Heilongjiang Province," Marilyn answered, "that is if they remain together as a government, as they are the only cities that have the size and infrastructure to support a government."

"What about Taiwan?" the superman wondered, "wouldn't this make them desperate? Ask them for help, despite the old rivalries between Nationalist and Communist?"

"Possible," Marilyn sighed, "Khan has informed me that the radiomen have picked some communiqués to that effect, but I don't know how successful they've been… but for the moment, lieutenant, let us enjoy the victory."

"Of course, my Lady," the superman responded.

**Khan's Base, Tibet**

Khan, Khan meanwhile stood quietly as he waited for the helicopter that would be carrying the bodies of Five and One for identification. If Marilyn was right, then she had won a great victory, even if she was only now just entering Beijing. The Illuminati organization as a whole was one of his chief goals, and the loss of the Council leader would surely create an atmosphere of confusion that would have to be corrected.

Eventually a lone Super Puma helicopter came into view of the base's exterior lights, allowing Khan and his second-in-command to see it coming in for a landing.

"Who do you suppose One and Five are?" his second-in-command wondered, "they didn't list the Council Members' real names on their files."

"Not really," Khan answered, "they also didn't keep records of who was promoted from specific ranks, and not all Illuminati members get the anti-aging drugs… and some that do quit using them on occasion…"

"It'll mean identifying them will be extremely difficult," his second-in-command grumbled in a fairly frustrated voice, "as if there weren't enough stresses to deal with."

"You mean Demona's recent activity?" Khan wondered.

"I fear she may team up with the Illuminati units in Nepal and India and strike at us from the south," his second answered.

"Possible, but even the Illuminati's data on her indicates that she has little trust for humans," Khan replied, "so, such a scenario isn't likely. She's likely hiding somewhere nearby so that she can launch her periodic raids."

"Just her and the gargoyles we drove out of the monastery?" his second gasped, "that's suicide… they'd need help from someone."  
Khan nodded, "not every general goes along with the most effective plan. I'm sure she believes herself to invincible because of her magic, but ultimately, that overconfidence will fail her. Damien and Marilyn will work together and defeat her."

"Marilyn isn't here," his second reminded him, "Damien is the only one on the helicopter."

Again Khan nodded, Marilyn wouldn't actually return until they had secured his domain throughout the borders of China. Until then Damien would have to do in terms of deflecting Demona's attention away from their forces. But even there, Khan was confident that Damien would do well enough to deal with the female gargoyle he had been cloned from.

Slowly but surely the helicopter came in to land in front of them. Once it fully touched down, the main passenger doors were opened to reveal Damien's sleeping stone form and two bodies wrapped in cloth. Khan immediately motioned to several supermen that were there with them.

"Take the bodies to the base morgue," Khan ordered, "I'll supervise the autopsy and identification of their bodies there… Place Damien in a safe place allowing him to look out over my domain."

"Yes, sir," the supermen that were there answered and set to work.

The work of moving the bodies was done swiftly and quietly. Damien's stone form was placed on a different section of the roof while the bodies of One and Five were carried inside with Khan and his Second-in-Command following the orderlies carrying the bodies. They were met by a lone doctor as they entered the base's morgue.

"I was told that I would have some 'high ranking bodies' to examine," the doctor quipped, "are these them?"

"One and Five of the Illuminati Council, yes," Khan nodded.

"Are you wanting to determine the cause of death exactly, sir?" the doctor inquired, "or are we just going to try to identify the bodies?"

"We're just identifying them," Khan answered, "once we know who they were and have the evidence needed to prove they're genuine, they are to be cremated. The exact cause of death is unimportant."

"Of course, sir," the doctor nodded and turned to the men carrying the bodies, "place One on the table on the right, and Five on the table on the left."

The superman carried out their orders and then left the room, leaving Khan, his Second, and the doctor. The doctor started with Five, figuring that as the lower ranking Council member, he would be easier to identify.

The sight of the body made the cause of death rather obvious, a snapped neck. The doctor then decided to neglect reporting that out loud, as it was fairly obvious and set to work on identifying the body. He had rather plain looking features with relatively long hair and a long beard with still fairly dark hairs, likely the result of various drugs the Illuminati gave its higher ranking members to keep them from aging.

"I wonder how the Chinese could have functioned with him here," the Second commented, "he doesn't look Chinese."

"I'm sure the Chinese people resented his presence," the doctor answered, "but I'd think that after we exposed them, they moved more like any ruling party…it didn't matter WHAT he looked like."

Khan nodded, "and now we are reversing that trend."

Both of the other two men nodded and the doctor then moved to check something on the computer screen behind him on one of the other panels in the room. While he did so, the Second came closer as if to get another look at the dead man's face.

"You know, his face seems rather familiar," Khan's Second commented, "not in the sense that he's been here, but that he is a recognizable character from history."

"Many of the Council members likely are, given all the drugs the Illuminati has that they do not share with the rest of the world," the doctor commented, "and this man is no exception."

"Do the Illuminati have DNA samples to confirm who he is?" Khan inquired.

"On Five?" the doctor answered, "yes, though I'm having to check records dating back to 1900... It would appear that the Illuminati wish to keep the Council members anonymous from even the rest of the Illuminati. But I am capable of getting a match on an earlier sample from before he became Five."

The doctor returned to Five's body and drew blood from Five's arm with a small syringe and returned to the computer analysis equipment. Khan and his Second waited patiently for a few minutes while the doctor ran his tests. When that was done, the doctor looked at the results and the two men then heard a soft hum of acknowledgement.

"We have full confirmation on who he is," the doctor answered, "he is who he appears to be… the Russian monk Rasputin…"

Khan and his Second nodded.

"I wonder how they faked his death," the Second commented curiously, "a double or illusion?"

"We'd need to be able to travel through time to find that out," Khan answered, "which is unimportant. The future is what is important. You may proceed onto One."

The doctor then turned to One and removed only the part of the blanket that covered his face. The man appeared far older then Five did with gray hears and facial hair more in the style of someone from the orient. He bore a striking resemblance to Genghis Khan, but there were also noticeable differences from the paintings of the late medieval Mongol leader. When the doctor finished his blood tests, he again turned to Khan and his second.

"Well?" Khan asked.

"In this case, I can not trace an exact name," the doctor sighed, "either he did a better job of covering his past involvement with the Illuminati then Five did… or maybe he joined the Council before true DNA testing and sample collecting could be done… which would mean that what slowed his aging was magical in nature rather then scientific."

"And it isn't perfect," Khan nodded.

"Well of course," the doctor nodded, "outside of the fey, magic generally isn't strong enough in other forms of life to allow for perpetual life… there are exceptions, but they do not necessarily give one what they want… usually a result of the wording used in the original spell. According to the files we copied out of the Illuminati's files, the only way to get true 'immortality' would be to steal whatever magical energies 'mortals' hold and absorb it… like being a vampire that feeds on magic rather then blood… which largely results in a mortal that is carrying enough magical energy that he/she might as well be considered a 'mortal fey'."

"Then he didn't do that…?" Khan's Second wondered.

"It's likely that he didn't," the doctor nodded, "but I'm not versed enough in magic to know which spells were used to prolong this man's life."

"Unimportant," Khan dismissed it, "you said the tests can not identify who he is?"

"Not as an individual," the doctor nodded, "but I have identified who his ancestor ultimately was. One who shares a name with you, sir, Genghis Khan."

"So the descendent of a world conqueror gains leadership over an organization that rules the world," Khan mused, "and is defeated by one carrying his ancestor's name. Amusing, isn't it."

"Of course, sir," his Second answered.

"You will prepare photographs for the announcement that One and Five are dead," Khan instructed his second, and then turned to the doctor, "once that is done, their bodies are to be cremated."

"It will be done, sir," the doctor answered.

**Unknown Location**

Three calmly stalked the hallways of the main Illuminati base. It took a great deal of self control, as he was actually in a very foul mood at the time. Reports of Khan's latest offensive had come in, and they did not look good. The pro-Illuminati forces were breaking, and Khan's troops had entered Beijing, the Chinese capital. One and Five were there, and they were there to take over the fight against Khan's forces which had been steadily going against the Illuminati from the beginning.

It could mean that One and Five were dead. Which would be an absolute disaster for the Illuminati on almost every level, and Three hoped that was not the case. Of course none of the reports mentioned the witch or the male gargoyle that had taken to aiding Khan's forces, so Three guessed that One and Five had defeated them and were now on their way to retaking the main base and removing Khan from their 'hair' once and for all.

But that was only a guess. And without any report from them, they had no way of knowing for sure WHAT had been going on with their Council Members. Three's pondering walk soon came to an end when a man quickly rounded a corner and approached him, looking somewhat nervous.

"Yes?" Three said slowly.

"Sir, we've received a communiqué from Khan," the man spoke it appears that he wants to talk to us."

"Now the traitor wants to talk?" Three growled.

"Yes, sir," the man nodded.

Three slowly followed the man as he lead the Council member to the main communications center in the area in which the Illuminati maintained their main headquarters. He found the large communications screen already on with Khan waiting for him.

"Hello, Council Member," Khan spoke on the screen, "I trust you are well?"

"Spare me pleasantries, traitor," Three growled, "what do you want?"

"Please, Council Member, please," Khan retorted, "It is quite common for two heads of state to maintain fairly cordial relations even if they are at war…"

"That was BEFORE the concept of 'total war'," Three answered.

"I see no reason to think of it that way," Khan quipped, "Keeping things cordial is far better then personally hating one another. Don't you think?"

"Cut the link, I don't have time for this," Three ordered.

"No time to know on the progress of One and Five?" Khan spoke before the technician could follow the order.

"What did you say?!" Three roared, his fears returning to him, "What have you done to them?"

"I? I have done nothing," Khan answered, "but you must remember that we are at war, presently Council Member. You can not shout at me like am some criminal…"

"You are a traitor," Three answered, "one created to serve the Illuminati against all possible threats. By all senses of the word, you are a traitor… a criminal."

"Then you shouldn't behave so to one who is performing a courtesy for you," Khan answered.

"What have you done to them?!" Three roared.

"As I said, I have done nothing," Khan answered, "but I am afraid I must inform you that One and Five ran afoul of Marilyn during my latest offensive and she bested both of them in combat. They were killed in action and died fighting. I suppose you could say they died with honor."

Three was silent for a moment. One and Five were dead. The Council was essentially gone. Two and Six were gone in Britain. Now One and Five in China. Only Four and himself remained. By the Illuminati's own rules, their entire operation would have to stop for a new Council to be elected since One was dead.

"Did you hear me, Council Member?" Khan asked.

"Yes, I heard you," Three answered before a moment of curiosity hit him, "Why are you telling me this?"

"As some cordial information from leader to leader," Khan answered, "as I expect the official announcement of the death of One and Five will be made soon… and the news reporters are not going to be as tactful as I am trying to be… and we expect the announcement that the last of your followers in China to be defeated and either killed or captured within the next few days, so I am informing you that you fought a good fight before you become mired in criticisms from your own members on your defeat."

"This is some aristocratic way of gloating if I've ever heard it," Three grumbled to himself, and low enough that Khan couldn't hear. He then recomposed himself and looked up firmly, "the men in the service of the Illuminati will not surrender to the likes of a traitor."

"I had thought not," Khan answered, "but you may rest assured that those taken prisoner will be treated well… that is all that I have for now…"

Three then heard a chuckle.

"Perhaps when you admit surrender in this battle, we can meet face to face and not face to computer screen," Khan mused, "discuss our differences like all the great kings of old did."

"Shut it off," Three growled as he stalked out, being unable to take any more.

He then stalked out again with greater urgency then before. He had to talk with Four and quickly. A new Council had to be elected and quickly, if Khan was to be defeated. If not… Khan would in this round, and their reaction to any future move he will make will be poor and ineffectual. That combined with the problems in Britain could break the Illuminati. Three was determined to get them through the present crisis, at least, as quickly as possible.

**Khan's Base, Tibet**

Khan returned to the roof following his chat with Three. The sun was preparing to set, and he was sure that Damien would want his next set of instructions. Or at least an update on the offensive he had participated in. He was unmoved as the stone form cracked and broke, releasing the stone gargoyle within.

"Tibet…" Damien said in a low voice.

"Yes, Tibet," Khan answered, "the offensive that you supported was successful. Beijing is now in our hands."

Damien didn't answer immediately.

"You did well," Khan then told him.

"Thank you, sir," Damien answered, "though I would have liked to march through Beijing. See what kind of city we've 'liberated'."

"The city is probably a ruin," Khan dismissed it, "and besides, I have more important tasks for you to deal with."

Damien turned and cloaked his wings.

"More important?" Damien asked.

"Demona," Khan answered, "she has been raiding the convoys we've sent out to either resupply or reinforce our troops at the front."

"I will crush her!" Damien vowed.

"That is unnecessary," Khan answered.

"But you said she's attacking your men!" Damien gasped.

"Yes," Khan nodded, "but ultimately, she will come here. I'm certain of that. She seems to think my driving of the Tibetan clan from their monastery was part of some personal vendetta, and will wish to destroy me personally."

"All the more reason to crush her!" Damien urged.

"Oh, she will be crushed, but the move I intend to make will be a bit more subtle then attacking her head on, which she likely expects," Khan answered, "if she comes here to avenge my attack on the Tibetan clan's shrine, I intend for her to run into both you and Marilyn… at the same time…"

"A trap," Damien spoke.

"Precisely," Khan nodded, "but the trap won't be ready until Marilyn can finish off the last pockets of Pro-Illuminati resistance… so until then, I will need you to monitor Demona's actions. Make sure she doesn't do any serious damage… possibly even pinpoint the exact location of her base so any survivors from the trap will be caught."

"Of course," Damien nodded, eagerly waiting for when Demona would make the ultimate move and fall into the trap that Khan was planning.

**Chaoyang, Liaoning Province**

With the Chinese capital now in Khan's hands, the placing of the military units under Khan's command were changing. Normal Chinese troops were being pulled back into more garrison work inside the rest of the China's territory while Khan's supermen remained at the front against the Pro-Illuminati troops. This was mostly done to ensure that the final military campaign against the Illuminati was swift and easy… especially with Marilyn taking out the strongest defenses that remained, and to make sure that the Chinese people and the anti-Illuminati Chinese that joined him felt that they actually played a role in governing China. Khan's supermen, for the moment, wouldn't be enforcing the laws. Normal Chinese soldiers would.

And for Marilyn, she was for moment observing the movements being taken by the scattered units of pro-Illuminati soldiers a few yards away. She knew Khan's plans, and had even helped formulate them, but for the most part she really didn't concern herself with those details. Breaking the back of the Pro-Illuminati forces was her main concern.

"I believe the attack to take Beijing has broken their back, ma'am," a superman commando reported to her, "we've observed them digging several improvised trench systems… but there are few, if any, heavy weapons, and no tanks at all."

"From what I can see the trenches are also being dug with desperation," Marilyn commented as she looked out to the Chinese lines.

"Which will hopefully make this the last campaign," the commando replied.

"In this war," Marilyn reminded him, "we may end up fighting many more rounds with the Illuminati before this s all over."

The commando nodded and then looked toward the Chinese lines. After a brief sigh, he returned his attention to Marilyn.

"We are ready to begin when you are," the commando answered.

"Begin with the artillery," Marilyn ordered, "I want to see how willing they are to cling to their delusion that the Illuminati gives them strength."

"At once ma'am," the commando acknowledged the order.

On the Chinese side of the line, the Pro-Illuminati troops desperately tried to form some semblance of a defensive line. The task was almost a monumental one. Every soldier knew that they had lost all their remaining armor and most of their other heavy weapons in the battle leading up to Beijing's capture by Khan's forces. And those assigned to monitor the advance of Khan' forces had also determined that the men advancing toward them were all superman commandos, who had proven to be extremely fierce warriors already. From that alone, they knew they would be in for a tough fight.

Of course, by know many of them also knew that One and Five had been killed in battle with Marilyn and that the Illuminati was essentially leaderless. And for many members of the Illuminati, that was the real kicker. The organization was not truly evil, and they certainly didn't see themselves as evil. They saw themselves as enlightened leaders whose duty was to lead the world toward a bright and better future. And in doing so, they had found themselves being lead by the likes of people like the Council and the Mage who had more designs for their own personal power and didn't necessarily do what was in the best interests of everyone, but they were still the leaders. The best and the wisest of the Illuminati, and these members obeyed orders… and now, no one was there to give the orders.

Many were considering surrendering to Khan's forces, while a few more even considered defecting to Khan's side. After all, maybe the superman leader could inspire leadership and action that had been the reason many of these men had initially joined the Illuminati in the first place. However, these thoughts didn't last long as the first shells began falling on them.

Khan's forces had taken Beijing earlier in the day, and now that the sun had set again, they were resuming their offensive. Shells landed on trenches, on men outside them, and or one group of soldiers, the sounds of battle were simply too horrendous to mention.

"Keep down men," an officer urged to small group of soldiers tasked with defending the line, "we have to hold them…"

"They've already killed One and Five," one of the soldiers replied, "shouldn't we get out of here… head for Russia or North Korea? Regroup there?"

"Khan won't stop at those borders," the officer answered, "we have to keep the war in China. We have to hold them off until a new Council can be formed."

In that moment, Marilyn suddenly appeared in front of them and landed a swinging kick to head of the first soldier in the group, knocking him out.

"The witch!" the officer gasped.

"Precisely," Marilyn smiled as she slammed the last two soldiers together, knocking them out.

"Your villainy ends here, witch!" the officer growled as he aimed his pistol at her.

"And how would a rabbit such as you use such a big gun?" Marilyn asked, and sent a small spell into the officer.

He staggered back a few steps before feeling odd. His clothing was growing larger, and his hands were having increasing difficulty in holding onto the handgun he had drawn. Marilyn was standing over him with a smirk as the gun fell from his hand. As he brought them up to see, he saw what looked far more like paws then hands. And the feeling of everything else getting bigger, or him getting smaller began to accelerate. His body began to itch as he shrank down and he felt a tugging sensation at his ears. He tried to fight all of this, but he simply continued to shrink, until he seemed to disappear into his clothes.

Marilyn then approached the pile of clothing and removed the jacket to reveal a small white rabbit sitting terrified in what had been the pants of the Chinese Pro-Illuminati officer.

"Don't worry," Marilyn commented as she then glanced out to see the rest of Khan's men taking the opposing lines easily and almost without a fight, "your army is broken. Your cause is broken. Your organization is broken. There is no need for me to do anything more to you."

The rabbit looked up at Marilyn, obviously terrified.

"Hop along," Marilyn tapped at it with her foot, sending it fleeing toward North Korea.

Marilyn turned to continue on her way. As the Pro-Illuminati army broke, she knew it had to be driven hard to insure that China would be Khan's and the next phases of the plan to keep the Illuminati off balance continued.

**Unknown Location**

"We can not have a new Council election," Four spoke, "forgo it. Declare yourself to be an 'interim' One until Khan can be crushed."

"And how will that work?" Three shot back, sounding frustrated and possibly even defeated, "our armies in China are crushed… defeated… and Khan knows it. It's why he called us to tell me that One and Five were dead. He was gloating the entire time."

"So we give up?" Four asked, "let Khan win? You know that if we do what we've always done in these times, all the regional offices will change hands as well… and with the problems in Britain and China… the result will be total chaos. You know that Khan will take advantage of that to improve his position."

"And what else can we do?" Three retorted, "we've long established the rule to keep affairs within countries to be solved within those countries."

"And you also know full well that we can't fully control everything," Four replied, "countries have intervened in other countries internal affairs despite all our best efforts, usually under some pretext that the intervention was in their national interest."

"For the most part those have been few and far between," Three answered, "and one or two were even inspired by us to put a more appropriate leader on the throne or in power. And Khan will likely be watching every move we make from here."

"So we just give up?" Four questioned, "let him have China."

"Absolutely not," Three answered, "but neither of us are really in a position to truly make our next move."

"You would if you declared yourself to be One, now, and went without an election," Four repeated his earlier advice.

"And how would I control the countless other Illuminati agents who want promotions," Three replied, "they normally back down from commands from the 'Council', but the Council no longer exists. They will demand the right to run. We block them and we'll end up with a 'civil war' within the Illuminati, not just against Khan."

"He'll take advantage of it!" Four repeated.

"Of course he will," Three sighed, "but I fear that nothing can really be done. We may have to accept that Khan has broken us in China… forced us into a tight position… broken us…"

"What can we do to stop him?" Four asked.

"For moment?" Three sighed, "not much. We might be able to maintain a covert war… sneaking in, launching strikes, and then sneaking out… but for moment, we can't do much more."

"And, dare I ask, what will allow us to do more?" Four asked nervously, getting the sense that the answer would not be to his liking.

"We'll have to wait until Khan begins to expand his domain outside of China," Three sighed, "Hopefully… hopefully our replacements are able to use the resulting international incident to bring the world's full strength down on Khan."

"You think it would really come to a world war?" Four asked nervously.

"It may…" Three sighed heavily, "but, in this case, we are more prepared for it. Khan can not repeat the tactics he used to discredit us in China…"

"He probably still has our lists of Illuminati members around the world," Four warned, "outside of the Council Members, of course."

"Of course," Three agreed, "but unlike before, he no longer has our exact websites or passwords to prove such accusations. Anyone outside of the Illuminati who goes to those sites would only think they have another conspiracy theory website and ignore it, negating the accusation Khan could throw at us… it is our only saving grace, as we are for the moment…" Three then gave a heavy sigh as he truly hated to admit that they had been defeated, "…broken."

"So, you're going to go ahead with a new Council election?" Four asked.

"We have to," Three sighed nervously, "we have to."

**To Be Continued…**


	20. Government is Harder than it Looks

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place two weeks after "Broken".

Government is Harder than it Looks

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Beijing**

Khan calmly walked through the streets of Beijing. It had once been the capital of Communist China and Pro-Illuminati China. Now it was his prize and there was a lot of hectic work to try and rebuild the city after the bombing, fighting between armies, and the rioting of Anti-Illuminati crowds in the opening shots of the war. It was potentially a fairly difficult thing to do. He could have Marilyn help clean up the streets and rebuild things, but Beijing was just one of many Chinese cities that had been destroyed by the war or by rioting. If he sent Marilyn to fix these problems one city at a time, she wouldn't be able to do anything else.

And the rebuilding of cities wasn't his only concern. The Illuminati was in complete chaos for the moment, but they would recover eventually. His forces would have to be ready for them when they did recover. And then there was the issue of an immortal gargoyle sorceress. Demona still raided his supply convoys and was proving to be a real nuisance.

"You can see all the work that needs to be done, can't you, sir?" came a voice from behind him.

Khan turned to see a local Chinese "bureaucrat" approaching him. The advance, while it had killed off most of the Pro-Illuminati soldiers, had also liberated anti-Illuminati men and politicians that had been arrested when the war began or had been fighting guerilla wars behind the lines until his troops reached them. In some ways it was both a gift and a curse.

A gift in that he could use them to reinforce his numbers when it came time to expand the war, but a curse in that he would need to devote more time and effort into governing the lands he had 'liberated'. The Anti-Illuminati forces weren't guaranteed to follow him blindly, and he didn't have enough supermen to control all of China. He needed the obedience of the Anti-Illuminati Chinese and in order to do that, Khan was willing to play these sorts of games with them.

"Yes," Khan nodded, "a lot of work will need to be done."

"How soon do you intend to move the move the government here and call for real elections," the bureaucrat asked.

Khan raised an eyebrow at that. Nearly all of the men that had joined his side had been diehard supporters of the 'communist' dictatorship that ruled China up until Khan's uprising. So the idea of having elections was somewhat surprising.

"Elections?" Khan asked him.

"We must maintain at least the illusion of the people's votes," the bureaucrat replied, "mostly to determine who follows party policy the best."

"I was under the impression that I was the 'party' now," Khan answered, "if it weren't for me, you would still be under the Illuminati's oppression."

"That is true, but we must present at least the image that the people are honestly involved," the bureaucrat answered, "besides, even under the old government... things didn't quite go like an Empire with different politics."

"I see," Khan replied, "leave a note of the details to arrange this then and have it sent to my second in command. I will move on from there when we are truly ready."

"But when will you be moving the government to Beijing?" the bureaucrat asked.

"When things are ready," Khan answered, "and I will decide when things are ready."

"But, sir, Beijing has always been the capital," the bureaucrat insisted, "Illuminati or not, the people will likely respond positively to even only moving the Interim-Government to Beijing."

"And will be vulnerable to attack in a rubble filled area that is easily targeted," Khan replied, "we must insure that the Interim-Government could be adequately protected before they are moved."

Khan knew a lot of this was political game playing. When his war began in earnest, he had played it as a Tibetan war for independence. However, that war had expanded into an Anti-Illuminati Civil War within China. There were some Tibetans that still talked to his representatives about Tibetan independence. Now, Khan had no intention of granting the Tibetans their political freedom, but as with the rest of the Chinese population, he wasn't yet in a strong enough position to truly secure his power. So he had to placate the Tibetans as much as he could until things were ready.

And defeating Demona would now go a long way to accomplishing that, as the Illuminati would be distracted by their own troubles for quite awhile. And if they didn't cause enough trouble, Khan did have the ideas to sneak small groups of his supermen into areas where they could cause mass chaos, particularly for the Illuminati. But those actions and hunting down Demona had to wait while Khan moved through the political games of controlling the largest country by population on Earth.

**Tibet**

And meanwhile the one that Khan finally wanted to target was finishing the latest nights of raids on Khan's supply lines. Demona was continuing her training missions by using Khan's various supply runs as opportunities to give the Tibetan gargoyles a chance to train themselves in combat in situations that weren't an all out assault. So far things were going fairly as the Tibetan gargoyles were progressing nicely. Demona's raids were slowing down the supplies going to Khan's units. And in doing so, the immortal female figured she was winning some duel victories. If Khan continued running the supply runs to support his main troops, now spread out across China and near the borders, his home base would become vulnerable to her attacks. But, if he regrouped his forces to deal with her, he would have to weaken the edges of his new 'empire' and threaten him with the Illuminati jumping back into the war.

As Demona returned, she came to see what was the other portion of the training program. The Japanese exile and librarian were giving basic instruction in the martial arts styles that the Ishimura clan used. Yoshi wasn't to bad with the basics, but it was Yama who Demona found to be extremely valuable. It was through the Japanese exile's efforts that much of the success that the Tibetan clan's efforts to raid Khan's supply lines were successful.

Yama had the Tibetans begin each session with basic warm up, which Demona observed to include stretches and series of rhythmic movements before moving on to the basic kicks and so forth. They would then go on to the next level when Yama felt they had mastered these things. And they reinforced Demona's raids by giving the Tibetan gargoyles the opportunity to put their lessons to a use and master basic points of strategy and tactics in the field. That gave Demona some hope for a successful fight against Khan's forces.

"How did things go?" a voice asked from Demona's right.

Her focus being on the training sessions she was observing, Demona didn't entirely notice the speaker when he approached her. His voice snapped her out of it, and she turned to the speaker, a white sphinx-like English gargoyle, Wedrington.

"Fairly well," Demona answered, "we managed to 'liberate' another cache of supplies Khan had intended to go somewhere."

Demona then gestured to a pair of large boxes that the two Tibetan gargoyles that had gone on the raid were carrying. Wedrington looked at it to see that most of it were grenades.

"I'm not sure how well those will help," Wedrington commented.

"If they blow up Khan's soldiers they'll work," Demona dismissed it.

"Yes, but we've tunneled into the side of a mountain," Wedrington pointed out, "if Khan attacks us it'll be with helicopters or jetpacks... something that would have his men be airborne. Grenades wouldn't work... the guards you've collected can't throw the grenades down on people... and I've found that gargoyle fingers are not entirely as dexterous as human fingers."

Demona couldn't entirely argue that. At one time, she might have, but her time under Puck's spell that made her shift between her gargoyle and a human form made her all too aware in the differences between human and gargoyle anatomy. As a gargoyle she could manipulate anything a human could, but she had found that during the day, many of these tasks were easier. Things humans made were commonly built for human hands, and in her human form, those things were easier for her.

"They might still work for ambushes and so forth," Demona commented, "we'll probably need to take Khan's fortress eventually."

Wedrington slowly nodded, "I suppose."

"How have things been here?" Demona wondered.

"Not to bad," Wedrington shrugged, "some worries over whether or not the 'moves' are being done right, but Yoshi says that even experts have that concern."

Some of that was Wedrington's own concerns. He had more combat experience against some of these sorts of things by being with her and going through the Second Unseelie War. But, for the most part, Wedrington was not an expert at combat and commonly followed Yama and Yoshi's instruction in their style of martial arts.

"Yoshi and Yama are still making good progress?" Demona asked.

"Yes," Wedrington nodded.

"Then that is all I can ask for," Demona replied and turned to stone for the day.

**Khan's Base**

Marilyn meanwhile stood quietly with Khan's second command as the sun rose. Near them, Damien had turned to stone to sleep for the day.

"And so another day begins," Marilyn said in a tone that sounded like she was grumbling.

"You're not pleased?" Khan's second asked, "the Earth is still here. We rule China. The Illuminati is still in chaos over the death of One and can't attack us. And Demona is only a nuisance at the present time."

"Yes," Marilyn nodded, "but what have we done since the conquest of China was completed?"

"My job has not changed," Khan's second answered her, "I am to run the facility and provide Khan with my advice when he asks for it."

"You're calm with all of this, aren't you?" Marilyn questioned him.

"I suppose I am," Khan's second replied, "You are not?"

"No, I'm not," Marilyn answered, "I'm either listening to Chinese politicians argue about governing China... all of them being normal humans, not even supermen... or listening to Tibetan leaders talk about independence and then relying updates on these situations to Khan while he is inspecting the rebuilding efforts."

"The tasks are important," Khan's second replied, "The Illuminati will recover eventually. We must make sure China is functioning before we move on to the next phases of Khan's plan to conquer the globe."

"I'd still prefer faster action," Marilyn sighed, "or at least joining Damien on his rounds to catch Demona."

Khan's second turned his glance out over the mountains around the base. Demona had continued to be somewhat of a nuisance for Khan's moves to resupply the rest of his forces and the Anti-Illuminati Chinese forces still under his command. Damien had been given the job of nightly patrols through the are to try and catch Demona and one of her raiding parties. So far, she had managed to elude him and make her raids.

"Shoot... we know where she's hiding," Marilyn commented, "I could go in and smash her easily."

"Demona is immortal," Khan's second reminded her, "The Illuminati had that as an explicit warning in their files."

"Smash her clan and capture her," Marilyn corrected, "her war would be over in seconds."

"I have already advised Khan to deal with her quickly," Khan's second informed her, "he would prefer to wait for her to attack here. He believes she's booby trapped the entrance to her cave. By waiting for her to attack, he believes we'd catch her in the open."

Marilyn sighed. That was a fine strategy against an under armed military force. Not against an immortal sorceress that could do nearly anything she wanted when it came to magic. Giving Demona the opportunity to attack in force was an invitation for trouble. Marilyn wondered why Khan would go through with such a strategy.

"And as you know, Khan is our leader," Khan's second continued, "he has already made his decision. We can not go against that decision. Whatever reasons he has, I'm sure his reasoning is sound."

With that, Khan's second turned and headed inside. Marilyn sighed heavily and slowly followed him. They had their own tasks to take care of, and they could not stick around complaining about Khan's strategies.

**New York, Hotel Cabal**

Duval sat quietly in what was the Illuminati Society's headquarters in New York. From here he monitored the activities that the Society undertook in New York City and monitored the activities of the Illuminati's members. Everyone from minor members such as Xanatos to even "ex" members like Bluestone. It was on the easiest of days, difficult. Xanatos at one time was perceived to be a valuable if only minor member. His money could fund countless separate projects that would not only earn him a vast profit, but also strengthen the Illuminati's position. But over time that had changed. Part of it had been the Illuminati's rivalry with Goliath's clan. They had intended to gather them up to 'protect' and study them. The gargoyles had fought being protected, and so the Illuminati had battled with Goliath's clan to 'protect' them. And Xanatos was no protecting the gargoyles, which largely limited actions Duval could take as Xanatos was still a member and his tower and castle were financially important to the Illuminati... all the same, Duval favored distancing the Illuminati's relations with Xanatos. If he would not support them, they had no need to support him.

The other trouble spot for the Illuminati in New York was Detective Matthew Bluestone. The man had been an FBI agent convinced that the Illuminati were real. His searching got him fired from the Bureau, but he kept searching. In doing so, Bluestone eventually earned membership, though as Duval found out, nothing with Bluestone went right from there. Bluestone continued to look for ways to expose the Illuminati and eventually aided Goliath's clan against the Illuminati's founder, the Mage. That earned him a death mark, which he somehow managed to avoid. That made Bluestone the only person to leave the Illuminati and live. Fortunately, though, for Duval, the policing the various problems related to the gargoyles being 'deputized' by New York's Mayor had kept Bluestone away from investigating the society he left.

"I wonder what he would say to the realization that it was us who truly urged the Mayor to deputize them?" Duval mused to himself and then shrugged, looking through the latest stacks of paperwork that came across his desk.

"Sir," a voice spoke up from the door to Duval's office.

"Yes?" Duval spoke looking up to the aide who had come to his door.

"Sir, I have a report from the main election board," the aide spoke and entered the office.

He then handed a small envelope to Duval. He took it and began to look through it as the aide left. As he did so, Duval was completely surprised by what he read. He was listed as a possible candidate for the Council post rank of Six. It was a complete and utter surprise to him. He had never expected himself to be considered for such a high post.

This was all related to the chaos that was going through the Illuminati. Khan's forces had killed two Council members, including One. Now new Council members had to be elected by the Illuminati's various local councils. And it meant that the Illuminati could not direct any national government to respond to Khan. And now he was listed as candidate to be a Council Member. It was an honor, but one that would put him in a fairly tight position.

The Illuminati maintained a council of six members all named for the number of their seat. Normally the Society only had to replace one member at a time when he or she had either died or failed in some sort of task or assignment spectacularly. The fact that the entire Council had to be reelected because of Khan was a sign of how troubling these things were for the Illuminati.

The election would probably carry on for quite a while to come, and would surely allow Khan to make some new attack. And with China's resources behind him, those attacks could be anywhere. Being a member of the Council represented a great amount of power, and Duval hoped that he would be able to survive the expanding conflict that he was sure was coming.

**Shanghai**

Khan moved through the street of another city that had been destroyed by the 'war'. There was much that would many things that would need to be to insure that the Illuminati was defeated and the ultimate plans for conquest could be realized, but at the same time, there was a lot that would need to be done to manage China as well. It was part of the political things that Khan was now finding that he had to manage after his victory.

Shanghai had taken fighting from nearly every side in ways beyond what many of the other Chinese cities had. The city's first burst of violence came after Khan had revealed the Illuminati to the Chinese people. Crowds of betrayed people, backed by Anti-Illuminati policemen and soldiers ran rampant through the city, and ultimately, the Illuminati retook the city by force. In the process most of the buildings there had suffered at least some fire damage. What followed after that was the arrival of the Anti-Illuminati soldiers under Khan's command.

Some Pro-Illuminati units fought hard to try and retain the city while others loaded boats to either flee to the Koreas, Japan, or some other part of China. And as they left, they systematically destroyed Shanghai's harbor. Which meant that Khan would have to spend time rebuilding it before moving on. And that presented an odd twist of things. China would need a strong economy to win the war with the Illuminati, but in order to do that, they would have trade with countries that the Illuminati secretly ruled.

That would be tough, but it was inescapable. However, Khan wouldn't resume international trade until he was confident they could keep Illuminati spies from sneaking into his "kingdom".

"Some of what they've done will take longer then the schedule you have listed, sir," an Anti-Illuminati naval officer spoke, "it isn't so much that they blew up the dockyard facilities, they've also sunk ships they couldn't take with them in key areas. As a result, nothing can sail up the river from the ocean, and we can not sail out. Those ships will have to be cleared from where they've been sunk before anything else can be done."

"And where would they be taken to?" Khan wondered, "I was under the impression that if you were going to salvage a sunken ship, you'd need a functional harbor to put it in."

"That is the typical thing... unfortunately, as you well know, the Illuminati have put us in an atypical thing," the Anti-Illuminati naval officer answered, "the idea is to move the hulks out and across the river and beach them on the other back while we then begin rebuilding the dock facilities, including the dry docks."

"How long will this take?" Khan asked.

"Depending on whether or not we can get the divers and tugboats to move the sunken ships... and that we don't have any weather problems... flooding and so forth," the Anti-Illuminati Naval officer sighed, "about two to three months. And that is an optimistic estimate."

"I'll see to get some supermen units moved here," Khan promised him, "they will be able to help with your salvage operation."

"Thank you, sir," the Anti-Illuminati Naval officer answered.

Khan nodded.

**Khan's Base, Tibet**

Khan's second continued with the work that was expected of him. Much of it was the continued operation of the labs that produced more and more supermen. And that was a key part of Khan's efforts. The Tibetans and the Anti-Illuminati Chinese were important for gaining control of China, but eventually they would need to be moved aside. Khan's secret orders was that these operations be done as secretly as possible when the time was right. And that depended on the output of more supermen, now including a large number of females, though unlike Marilyn, they wouldn't be able to use magic. The act would give Khan's race a biological survival outside of scientific measures.

Of course, it would take a few years before that final move would be ready. Until then, Khan's second kept the facilities running at peak efficiency. As he ran this mission, he met with various supermen scientists that had taken over from where the Illuminati's scientists. The work was technical and time consuming.

"We will need a way to speed up production," Khan's second commented after a moment as he watched the projects continuing.

"Doing that is easy," one of the scientists near him spoke, "the problem is that we would either need to enlarge this base or construct a similar one elsewhere. Our problems here are largely related to the size of our facilities."

"I see," Khan's second nodded, "I'll mention your suggestion to Khan when he returns from his inspection tour of China... though I can not guarantee you you'll get everything you're asking for. I believe that Khan wishes to put most of our efforts into rebuilding what we had to destroy to throw the Illuminati out of China."

"I understand," the scientist nodded, "it is, after all necessary to make sure that our gains are lasting and are ours... and Khan is operating under the plan he has explained."

"And do you have a problem with that?" Khan's second asked. There was no threat in his voice. He was merely trying to get the scientist's honest answer.

"Of course, not," the scientist answered, "I am merely stating what we will need to increase production. If that doesn't take precedence over the rebuilding of China, then we will wait."

Khan's second nodded, remembering Marilyn's impatience for an assignment beyond diplomacy and politics. That made him chuckle a bit.

"If only all of us could be as patient as you," Khan's second replied.

At the same time, Marilyn was in the main communications area, and had just opened a channel with Khan to give him the updates on what had happened so far.

"They continue to ask about an independent Tibet?" Khan's image on the screen asked.

"Yes," Marilyn answered, "or at least self governance. And since you have not granted me authority to take care of the issue, I've had to delay any formal decision on the matter until you can return."

"I don't want them killed," Khan said simply and in a tone that sounded like he was scolding a whining subordinate. Which he actually was, but to certain extent Marilyn knew that Khan agreed with her. A lot of this was for show because the Illuminati might be listening in. "Creating an equitable government is a priority and for moment, I will have to say that the Anti-Illuminati Chinese do not appear to be in favor of giving up Tibet."

"Of course, sir," Marilyn answered, "what will you want me to do about this? It would appear that Chinese and Tibetan sentiments are against one another."

"That they are..." Khan nodded, "it may work to put them under a lose federation... similar to the way the Americans have organized their government... though obviously as a one party state in MY favor."

"Of course," Marilyn answered, "the people will always follow a wise and strong king... the good is relative."

Khan nodded again.

"When can we expect you to return?" Marilyn asked.

"I'm not sure," Khan replied, "there are many cities to check and many need a lot of work. Speaking which, I want you to inform my scientists to begin a crew supermen that can function as salvage experts and get them to Shanghai as quickly as possible."

"Salvage experts?" Marilyn asked.

"Yes," Khan answered, "to begin rebuilding Shanghai's harbor."

"Of course, sir," Marilyn answered, "is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Like what?" Khan asked, almost looking mischievous.

"Anything more exciting then politics," Marilyn answered, "need a good massage? Or anything else like that? Or any enemy I could kill for you? Anything? The range is wide open."

"Or next operations to deal with the Illuminati will begin soon," Khan answered, "so long as Damien keeps Demona distracted we can continue with the next phases of the plan... and as to your other offers... those will have to wait and see what I'm in the mode for."

"Of course, sir," Marilyn answered as the link with Khan's communicator cut out.

**Demona's Cave, Dusk**

Inside the cave the gargoyles sleeping away the day in stone, just as all gargoyles did, came to life as the sun set and a new night for them began. Wedrington quietly stretched his wings as he shook the last bits of stone off of him. The night was likely to bring about another of Demona's raids on Khan's supply runs. Part of him wondered why Khan was doing so much of this at night. He could easily move them to daytime patrols and avoid Demona's efforts altogether.

It could be foolishness, but from they had managed to follow in their trek across China to where they were, Demona didn't think that was likely. She believed Khan to be a relatively competent commander, which reinforced the question of why he didn't take a simple solution... either blowing them up with a missile or running the supply missions during the day.

The only other options was that it was a trap, or the frontline units were so undersupplied... or Khan lacked large enough transport equipment to move large amounts of the supplies needed in one shipment. Wedrington tended to hope it was that second option, as the raids Demona had launched tended to find small transport helicopters or a couple of medium sized trucks. They commonly went in pairs, which meant they couldn't fully supply a large army that was a long way away... which would mean that Khan would have to make these runs around the clock to supply his forces. Wedrington hoped that this was the case.

"Wedrington," Demona's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

Shaking his head he turned to her.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking about things," Wedrington told her.

"Em-hm," Demona responded, "remember it is your turn to go on the training mission tonight."

"Of course," Wedrington nodded and began to follow her to another section of the cave that they had hollowed out of the mountain.

There were several rations that they had liberated from Khan's forces there, and for the moment, they were the bulk of their diet.

"I want you to stay relatively close to me during the mission," Demona instructed him, "You have more experience at this then the Tibetan gargoyles do, so I don't think you'd fully need as much of this as they do."

"I'm still coming to grips with many of the basic moves," Wedrington answered, "I don't think I did all that well as a warrior during the war with the Unseelies."

"Maybe, but that was your trial by fire," Demona sighed, "The Tibetans haven't had that..."

"So... if you don't think I need this as much as they do, why do you want me to go?" Wedrington wondered.

"Some of it is to stay sharp," Demona answered and then leaned in to whisper to him, "and need I truly say what I'd prefer to keep private in font of the others..."

Wedrington could detect some hints of the personal bond that he and the Immortal Female had formed in the course of their time together. When he had first met Demona, she was trying to regain her gargoyle form, and in the course of that adventure, he'd been pulled into it by his first encounter with Sekhmet and soon learned much about the sky blue female gargoyle.

Demona had made many mistakes in her life and went down the 'dark path' for quite a ways. It took a lot to get her realize she was wrong. And from what Wedrington had learned, she did have legitimate concerns to be angry with. It was in her methods of dealing with those problems in which she went too far. And so, he volunteered to guard her during the day, since her restored gargoyle form did not have the ability to shift between a gargoyle and human form. If only to show her that humanity could be trusted if given the chance.

Thailog then ruined that. Looking for a test subject for his witch to practice on, he was grabbed and transformed into the lion-like gargoyle that he now was. He stayed around Demona as she was the only gargoyle he knew very well, and that he needed the help to adapt to everything. At the same time, he felt that Demona sill needed someone to help her get over many of the trust issues that had lead to her turn to the 'dark side' as it were. They fought through the Second Unseelie War and in so doing, Wedrington felt they had made real progress. But over time, something else began to develop. Something that he had never expected, and he doubted Demona expected it either. And that was an almost romantic relationship between them. They had begun courting one another.

Despite this development, Demona preferred to keep it quiet. Like she didn't want to draw attention to it. Wedrington, respected her decision and figured that things would change a bit more the more progress he made in helping her move away from the person who had tried to kill every single human on the planet.

"So when do we leave?" Wedrington asked slowly.

"Immediately after breakfast," Demona answered.

**Khan's Base**

Damien slowly stretched out his wings as the sun set over the western horizon. It was a new night. A night in which he would be expected to deliver some crushing blows on Demona. If he could ever find the immortal female. He patrolled the area every night, and yet the sky blue female managed to elude him somehow. It could be magic, but he didn't quite have sense. He wondered if it was a failure to pay attention.

"So how do you plan to get her tonight?" a voice asked from behind him.

Damien turned to see Marilyn standing by. She seemed curious about the operation to catch Demona that was his to accomplish. Damien guessed it was likely because of the fact that Marilyn was assigned to handle many of the political matters while Khan was out on his inspection tour, and that she was bored out of her mind in doing it.

"Mostly the same as I've done every night," Damien answered, "Khan doesn't want an assault on her cave, so I am to glide around until I catch her ambushing some supply run."

"And she's managed to elude you," Marilyn commented.

"Yes," Damien gave an embarrassed grumble.

"You know, it might do better to use the convoy as bait," Marilyn told him, "not simply go looking for Demona. We know her target is the supplies leaving either this base. So use the convoy as bait to draw her in. It's a simple tactic and one used countless times. Allied fighter pilots used it to destroy the Luftwaffe in World War Two."

"That..." Damien gasped, "that might work..."

Marilyn almost smirked she he then looked down, looking rather embarrassed. It was a relatively simple plan, and one that even an ordinary person could come up with. But, Damien, like all of Khan's supermen, was engineered to be better then his opponents. The fact that he could be caught making such an amateur mistake shamed him.

"Yes," Marilyn nodded, "yes it might... but don't beat yourself up too much about it. Everyone is entitled to one bonehead mistake at least once."

Damien looked back at her with a fairly sour look. There was something in Marilyn's tone that indicated that she deliberately paying attention to his faults.

"I will beat her," Damien growled, "I will beat her and assure our victory while you are forced to stay here and baby-sit a bunch of monks who don't know they've been duped."

And with that, Damien pushed by her and went in to get his own breakfast and ultimately set things up for his ambush. Marilyn, merely stood by. She didn't like the jab at her being forced to remain outside the "spotlight" of the campaign against the Illuminati, but Khan wanted both of them to serve his cause. And so, Marilyn let the male clone get away with the remark.

**Later**

Demona, Wedrington, and a pair of Tibetan gargoyles glided quietly through the night searching for some lightly guarded supply run that Khan was making to his various forces around China. These supply runs commonly carried military equipment that Khan needed to supply his armies and the armies of the Anti-Illuminati Chinese that had sided with him. And by attacking them, Demona felt that she was not only helping to train the Tibetan gargoyles for the fight that would be coming, but she was also hurting Khan's ability to maintain his armies along China's borders. She had no love for the Illuminati, but figured that between that for the moment, Khan was the bigger threat... though she did hope that the two destroyed each other before things were over. It would leave the Tibetan gargoyles and their monk friends in a better position.

So far, though, they hadn't come upon any of these supply runs. That was a frustrating part of the operation.

"You don't suppose the he's decided not to make these supply runs?" Wedrington wondered after a little while, "You know... hunker down until he's certain we've given up?"

"That would abandon his troops at the edges of China," Demona answered, "and would give the Illuminati the chance to get back into the war, regardless of what defeats he's forced on them. And Khan is smart enough to know that he can not allow the Illuminati to regroup... not because we are giving him minor trouble."

"We're only minor trouble for them?" one of the Tibetan gargoyles asked.

"He's only going to see me as a real threat," Demona sighed, "because your clan has had no experience in combat, he will overlook you... which is why I am hoping that Yama and Yoshi will be successful in training you."

And so they continued on scanning the ground below them and the narrow roads carved into the mountains of the Himalayas as they searched for one of Khan's supply runs. Things were relatively quiet and as they went, the other Tibetan gargoyle had a question.

"What do you think should be done when this is over?" the other Tibetan wondered, "I doubt our clan can go back into seclusion after this... and the monks could be attacked by the Communists when they retake power."

There, Demona didn't really know. At one time, she would have urged them to kill any and every human they came across and establish themselves as rulers over them. But things had changed. Wedrington had been human, yet he hadn't made her his enemy... and in fact if he survived... a flicker in the back of Demona's own mind saw Wedrington as a potential mate.

"I do not know for sure," Demona sighed heavily.

A lot of this was new to her. For too long, her life had revolved around her lust for vengeance against those she saw as wrongdoers against gargoyles. Haakon and his Vikings. The Captain of the Guard. Macbeth. The Hunters. All the humans that had ever wronged a gargoyle. In the process, she rarely had any care for what happened to the gargoyles she come across, for all too often, they had hurt her chances for revenge. Her old clan followed Goliath, not her, and she resented it. The ragtag clan she had formed while fleeing the first Hunter settled into Macbeth's service and didn't want to turn on him, and so she abandoned them to the fury of the English. And Goliath refused to see things her way when he was reawakened. It had infuriated her to a great degree, which was amplified by his turning to the human, Elisa Maza.

Though it wasn't until her dealings with Wedrington and the Weird Sisters' trial that things for her really changed. That she was made to see that the wrongs done were done more by her then by humans. Seeing the human Elisa save Goliath from her by knocking the anti-tank rocket launcher away from her. Seeing the human Elisa ring the iron bell to save Goliath and Angela from Oberon. Seeing the human Elisa give CPR to Angela and save her life after being attacked by the Hunters. Her own vengeance had done more harm then good to gargoyles and she realized that she had never been a real leader to the gargoyles she encountered after the fall of Castle Wyvern and meeting Wedrington.

Now, Demona not only had defeat Khan, to a great extent, she had to make sure that things would progress well for the Tibetan gargoyles. She had no desire to stay in Tibet, and knew that the Tibetan gargoyles would. Je Lu and Shi La would remain the Tibetan clan's leaders and they would have different mission once Khan was defeated. And that would be mere survival. On some level, they could invest their trust in whoever would take over China after Khan, but that would be risky, and despite not wanting to destroy all humanity, Demona still didn't completely trust humans. They could go into hiding again, but the Tibetan clan wouldn't be able to hide itself very well. Demona had no answers.

"I really don't know," Demona repeated, "To be honest, in most of the instances where I've been in a position like this... I've failed because of certain points of view that were not the best..."

That was the best she could manage, as she was trying to avoid having to say that she was wrong. Wedrington and Goliath's clan would probably tell her that her ideas were wrong, but to her that was an outside judgment. And while they might be somewhat right... Demona still could not get away from trying to keep from being blamed completely.

"We still have a long way to go against Khan though," Wedrington commented, "Worrying about what to do after he is defeated might not be the smartest thing."

"It can wait," the first Tibetan gargoyle nodded, "and for now we move forward... forward to something better... something higher... higher then Khan's tyranny."

And so they glided on.

**The End...**


	21. Traps and Assassins

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place two days after "Government is Harder than it Looks".

Traps and Assassins

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Khan's****Base,****Tibet**

Marilyn reported to the rooftop landing pad as a helicopter came in for a landing. She had been waiting for this particular arrival. Khan had finished his inspection tour of China. He had been looking at the things that would have to be rebuilt after the war between the Illuminati and his forces. It had been a necessary trip, even if Marilyn didn't like it. They had taken China from the Illuminati and they had killed two members of the Illuminati Council, but the war was likely far from over. Not while the Illuminati as a 'Society' still existed. China would have to be rebuilt and prepared for when they finally got to striking back at them.

"It is good to see you again," Marilyn said to Khan as he exited the helicopter.

"You thought something would befall me?" Khan glanced to her, "or did you miss me?"

"I doubt anything could happen to you, sir," Marilyn answered, "but I am not suited to all these political things. You are far more skilled at that."

"The Tibetans wishing to be independent and so forth?" Khan gave a chuckle.

"Yes... and I am not skilled enough to tell them they won't get what they want in a way that they would like it," Marilyn replied.

"I may have to teach you to lie then," Khan chuckled, "but that will be for some later date."

"Of course, sir," Marilyn answered.

Khan continued walked toward the inside entrances to the former Illuminati base that was now his headquarters. Marilyn followed behind him, hoping for some mission that would do more then just deal with complaining Tibetans. Khan, meanwhile, however wished to be updated on the major theaters of operation in the area while he had been out.

"So, how goes Damien's struggles with Demona?" Khan asked as they reached the door.

"Not as well as it probably should be," Marilyn admitted, "she's managed avoid Damien to continue her night time raids on our supply lines. I am afraid, sir, that we will only able to run multiple runs during the day."

Khan didn't like that one bit. His men needed those supplies. The Illuminati base was well stocked and had access to raw materials from which they were able to manufacture their own weaponry. But all of it was located in one location, and most of the Chinese factories were still smashed. His army, both Supermen and Anti-Illuminati Chinese and Tibetan nationalists depended on the supply lines from Khan's base being unmolested.

"That will be a problem if he can not find her," Khan answered, "the full complement of supply runs must be used..."

"Finding her shouldn't be a problem," Marilyn commented, "but it will need us to leave only one supply mission at night."

"Only one?" Khan wondered, "You would lay a trap with the supplies that my army needs?"

"It'll be the only way to trap Demona," Marilyn argued, "unless you want to keep gambling that Damien will patrol over the supply run that Demona happens to attack."

Khan only sighed. He didn't like these results, as they would increase the difficulty that his forces had to face. But Marilyn had a point. Demona's raids came at random and no two supply runs were hit twice within any short period of time... and whenever he'd thought he'd had her pattern predicted, she changed things. The Illuminati was beaten, but Demona was proving to be a worthy foe.

"I will discuss this operation with Damien later," Khan answered, "In the meantime, I have a new assignment for you."

"An assignment?" Marilyn asked, this time looking eager.

"Yes," Khan nodded as they made their way into the main command center of the former Illuminati base.

It had once served as the control center for all the Illuminati's most secret projects in the Tibetan area. Chinese and Tibetan agents of the society came in for updates on what was expected of them as Illuminati scientists and leaders gave them instructions. They did this even if the men giving the instructions weren't Chinese or Tibetan. Khan had seen all this. But now it served as the nerve center for Khan's entire operation.

And Khan intended to use every file, every document that he and his followers had copied from the Illuminati's own systems to his advantage. Khan expected to conquer the world in the long run, but for the moment, politically he had China. Before he could move on from there, he would need to destroy the Illuminati as an organization in its entirety.

"In the long run, our next move will ultimately be to straighten our lines... securing Mongolia, the Korean Peninsula, and the island of Formosa... or Taiwan," Khan answered, "and then to prepare for American interference..."

"Which do you wish me to strike?" Marilyn asked.

"The Illuminati within every country on Earth," Khan said with a smile.

Marilyn gave him a puzzled look and Khan pressed a few command buttons that then put a great holographic display in the air in front of them.

"As you know, Marilyn, the Illuminati society rules the world in secret," Khan spoke, "largely letting the countries think they're governing themselves. To do this, they maintain a host of agents, officials, councils, and officers. They handle many of the society's various affairs and insure that they are well led and that the countries are given appropriate guidance in one form or another."

"Which is why we're fighting," Marilyn told him, "to give the world a REAL ruler."

Khan only smiled, "Yes... but completing that will take some time. Time we probably won't get because while we control China, the Illuminati largely still controls the rest of the world... and our victory in China mostly came from manipulating the Chinese and the Tibetans to purposes that were of our intentions. We won't get that chance elsewhere. Once the Illuminati knew that it was I behind the 'Tibetan rebellion', they cut us off from all of their present files... which means everything we have is slightly dated."

"They can not have changed everything," Marilyn argued.

Khan nodded, "of course and that is where you come in. We can not repeat what we did in China elsewhere because I've painted myself as a Tibetan/Chinese local. Even if we gave the rest of the world the list of Illuminati members, people in other countries wouldn't believe us... and even if they would believe us, the Illuminati has changed the codes to their networks, which means while we can give them lists, they'd have no proof of anything besides our lists."

Marilyn was silent and looked at the display. It largely looked like a network of names and photographs. It was like some giant hit list.

"But this is where you come in," Khan answered, "using your magic, you can remove the various Illuminati members that are in positions to run the society from the 'field' as it were."

"In positions to run the society?" Marilyn wondered, "Why not kill all of them?"

"Because that would take too long," Khan answered, "and besides, not every Illuminatus knows enough about the organization to control it... for example..."

Khan then pressed another series of buttons and another list came up beside the hit list that was being displayed.

"There are various members that have joined for various reasons for their own personal gains, but do not occupy any position of power in the organization," Khan explained, "they've maintained various files on these members. The largest are on one David Xanatos of New York City and of Xanatos Enterprises fame and one Matthew Bluestone, also of New York where he is a local law enforcement agent."

"What's they're story?" Marilyn wondered.

"Xanatos joined while in college, bragging about his business skills," Khan answered, "and they then helped him build his fortune... although the exact details of how that was done or started isn't listed. They have, however, run various Illuminati projects through Xanatos Enterprises. And in that sense they've used his wealth to further their own agendas. It's doubtful that Xanatos even knows about several of these projects that his company has done for the Illuminati."

"They're using a multi billionaire?" Marilyn gasped.

"And that's power," Khan smirked, "Bluestone's story is different though. He originally suspected the society's existence and wanted to expose them. And due to the fact that he was good at his investigation of the leads to the Illuminati, they assigned an agent to keep and eye on him and make sure that he never found any proof of them... but after he was dismissed from the FBI and moved to the NYPD, that agent could no longer tail him and he came into contact with one of the Illuminati's main New York City agents. After he delivered a gargoyle to him, he was granted membership, which according to the files, Bluestone accepted in the hope of getting enough hard proof to expose them... but even with membership granted, Bluestone was not given access to knowledge of who were members and of all of the Illuminati's programs."

"So, they brought him in to control him..." Marilyn surmised.

Khan nodded, "and there are countless other Illuminati members in this bracket. Kill the leaders main project and these minor members will continue on as if the society never existed."

"And how am I to get to all these targets?" Marilyn wondered, "some places will be shielded against teleportation and even if not... teleporting a lot can be taxing on me."

"You might be able to use mirrors the way the fey can... you were cloned from Merlin, a fey halfling, making your magic of the third race in the way it works and its origins," Khan commented, "You might need to cast a specialized spell to do so, but you should only need to do it once."

"You've been studying some of the texts they have on magic?" Marilyn wondered, referring to various spell lines and things that Khan had copied from the Illuminati's databases before access to them was cut off.

She hadn't expected that from Khan. The Illuminati kept extensive files on magic other such things, but Khan could not practice magic himself. Only Marilyn could do that. Khan had no explicit need for it.

"I'm merely seeking to insure that you can function well," Khan answered, "You are an important part of my organization. The better you function, the better our cause."

"I see," Marilyn said slowly.

**Hotel Cabal, NYC**

Duval continued to follow the election results quietly as they came in various places. The process was very slow and even with all the technologies that had aided in voting for the rest of the world, it would take days for the Illuminati to know who had been elected to the new council. Doing things secretly made a lot of that seem rather difficult. But that had more to with the fact that they were having to elect an entire council, and the various candidates did campaign for offices as the timeframe of the Illuminati election continued.

As he looked over a couple of the internal polls that were being taken, his phone rang. He answered it to find that it was another of the candidates nominated to the new council. However, this caller, unlike Duval, was actually nominated for two seats. Duval was nominated to become the new Six. The man calling him was nominated to become Five our Six. It was an odd nomination system, but in theory it gave him a greater chance of winning a Council seat, as his supporters would be able to vote twice for him, and he might pick up some additional support in one of the two races. Duval guessed that that was what he was being called over.

"How're you holding up, Duval?" man asked, his oriental accent barely detectable. The only way Duval had known who his caller was, was the specialized caller ID system that was given to main Illuminati agent that ran an office the Illuminati directly controlled.

"Doing rather well, I suppose," Duval answered, "I could be worse... all things considering. The gargoyles haven't done much that we really need to be concerned with."

"I'd think capturing gargoyles for their own protection is something we can forget for now," the other man answered, "this business with Khan and all..."

"You're in Korea," Duval wondered, "Has he done anything?"

"Nothing much," his caller answered, "I think they've actually weakened their forces in the area... but then... he might only be consolidating power. The real trick is figuring out where he'll go next."

"Do you..." Duval began to ask.

"Let's save the questions until AFTER we're on the Council, which is why I'm calling," the man on the other end of the line replied.

"Of course," Duval nodded, "you'll forgive me if I'm a bit anxious."

"Now," Duval's caller began, "I've called you because of specific things related to the Council elections."

"Yes, we are both nominated for the rank of Six," Duval nodded.

"But I am also nominated for the rank of Five," his caller told him, "and I'm offering to propose a deal for you."

"I'm listening," Duval replied.

His caller then began to explain his deal.

"Since I am nominated for two seats, one higher then yours, I propose an alliance," his caller explained, "I'll support you for the rank of Six... even against me, and you will support me for the rank of Five. That way, we both stand a good chance of winning."

This was a similar deal that Duval had already been offered. The earlier one had been made by his caller's rival for the rank of Five. He had offered to help Duval if he would support him. It was a sign of the tight and intense politics that made Illuminati elections. If the world's democracies thought their campaigns were extensive and even ugly, they were yet to see an Illuminati election. Duval had records that occasionally members murdered rivals to try and secure seats on the Council. So far that hadn't happened yet in this election, but Duval knew that the threat of it still hung over them.

"I will..." Duval began to respond to his caller's offer when he stopped suddenly.

The phone had practically hung up and had gone to a dial tone. It had been a sudden stop that Duval didn't expect. These races were tight and commonly involved some acts of distrust and rude behavior... but even when things were at their worst, he'd never known someone to actually hang up on a conversation.

"Of all the rude things," Duval commented to himself and hung his phone up.

**Unnamed Location in****Korea**

The building that Duval's caller had called from was filled with a thick and poisonous gas. And only one person had unleashed it. And that one person was Marilyn. The trick of using mirrors through her powers as a fey halfling had worked and allowed her to move rapidly to the locations on the lists that Khan had of Illuminati members. She had arrived at the first location in the women's bathroom of a hotel building on the Korean Peninsula.

And using a few canisters of a powerful nerve gas from Khan's arsenal, she unleashed them into the building's ventilation system. The gas spread rapidly through the building's ventilation system and went into all rooms of the building. Marilyn would then enter the building with a gas mask on to check over the various 'bodies' of the people she was there to assassinate.

The halls and passageways were filled with a smoky white haze that made it difficult to easily see very far. Some of that came from the volume of the nerve gas that Marilyn had dumped into the buildings ventilation system to make sure that there would be no survivors or that the gas wouldn't dissipate through open windows, doors, cracks and other venting systems. And insuring that the people in the building were dead, Marilyn had found she was very successful.

As she checked each room thoroughly, she found those who had been inside the building slumped over desks or flat on the floor. All of them were dead, but the death had been quick and silent. None of them even knew what was happening until the gas filled the room and then everything went numb. As she checked each victim of her attack, she also checked the lists that Khan had given her of various Illuminati members to eliminate and those that could be left alone. Most of them were on the list of targets, most of those that weren't on the target list, also weren't on the 'safe' list.

"Oh well," Marilyn shrugged, "collateral damage... and besides, Khan will be attacking Korea eventually. If they suspect him, I'm sure he can use it to his advantage."

Marilyn rapidly finished her inspection and then left, with no trace that she was ever there.

**Tibet, Demona's Cave, Dusk**

Meanwhile, as the sun went down a very different 'drama' was getting ready to unfold as Demona and the gargoyles that come with her awoke for the night. Though to say that they had come with her would be misleading. They had brought her here, but they needed real help to free their 'home'. After throwing off her stone skin, Demona glanced at the Tibetan gargoyles, whose cause she had taken on and then looked out toward the mouth of the cave that she had drilled into.

"Though to say 'home' might be wrong too," Demona thought to herself.

Khan had likely destroyed their home, a monastery hidden in the Tibetan mountains that had somehow escaped the purges of the Chinese government and time. Now that was gone, and even after Khan was defeated, Je Lu and his clan would not have a 'home' to return to or rebuild, and the people of Tibet and China would learn that there were gargoyles native to 'their' land.

Had this war begun three or four years earlier, Demona's answer for it would have been different. She would have tried to get Je Lu's clan to fight a larger war to insure that gargoyles ruled over humans... or that there were no humans to threaten them at all. At that time, she had still been boiling over with rage at humanity for their mistreatment of gargoyles and trying to shrug off guilt for her own mistakes. The various betrayals of humans who had been friendly to her and dismissing other humans who had befriended gargoyles as exceptions to the rule. Few would take that sort of path, and given what she knew of the Tibetan clan, she doubted they would accept such a solution.

That change had building since she had learned that Angela was her daughter. Of course at first she did want to draw her away from Goliath and get her to side with her in her war against humanity, but Demona had to admit that she had failed in that regard. And as she came to realize that Angela would never fully side with her, he had found that much of her actions began to lose purpose. At her worst, she wanted either enslave or kill off humanity and rule over every gargoyle on Earth, largely believing that only her ideas could save and protect them. But as she learned that Angela wouldn't side with that, many things began to lose their point an meaning. Humanity wouldn't be destroyed, and unless the world's gargoyles united into one clan and went through extremely prolific breeding, there would never be enough gargoyles to conquer humanity. And even if there were, Angela wouldn't have supported her.

Still, her daughter had not been enough to end her rivalry with the clan. She still resented that Goliath had become leader and that he had chosen the human, Elisa Maza over her. True, she was largely over her relationship with Goliath for the most part, but that didn't mean that old flames still burned. And in her pursuit getting rid of her former mate and the human detective, she ran afoul of the Mage, who wanted her as an 'apprentice' of sorts. He had turned Elisa into a gargoyle and her into a human. And she was then used as part of his private war with Oberon. She managed to escape the Mage and begin her path back to being a gargoyle.

And it was on this path that she met Wedrington. A human archeologist who had been studying Egypt's pyramids. And he just happened to be researching the one that Demona had needed to get into to retrieve artifacts to restore her gargoyle form. And he had actually helped her in this without many of the preconceptions Demona had had. And in her rush to restore her gargoyle form, she ended up leaving him to be taken prisoner by the Unseelie Court. She ultimately did free him and restore her gargoyle form, but it also ended up with her being 'tried' by the Weird Sisters and every misdeed she had done being revealed to Wedrington.

Yet he didn't flee or hate her for it. In fact he seemed to understand her motives in his own way. He had made it clear that he didn't agree with her actions, but seemed to understand where she had been coming from. He even volunteered to be her daytime guardian, as restoring her gargoyle form and also made her have to return to sleeping away the day in stone. He also volunteered to help her and show her that humanity wasn't something to be hated. And he actually did a good job at that.

But then Thailog and the Unseelies intervened again. Wedrington was turned into a gargoyle by Thailog's witch and was forced to fight with the Unseelies during their war. He survived this, but in the course of it, Demona had found something she had truly missed... love and attention. To a certain extent, she was too young and ambitious and let too much that get in the way of her and Goliath, and Thailog was a 'rebound' choice. Goliath had rejected her, and so she turned to Thailog, Goliath's clone, who seemed to have everything she wanted. But to him, she was not much more then an object. She doubted that Thailog could love anyone. But Wedrington was different... and she could strangely feel it.

"Demona!" came Wedrington's voice from beside her, snapping her from her thoughts, "are you alright?"

"Just thinking over things," Demona sighed, "do you know who is up for going out tonight?"

She was referring to the 'battles' she had been taking the Tibetan gargoyles on. They had no real history as warriors and weren't prepared for the war that Khan had put on them. Yoshi and Yama, two Japanese gargoyles, one an apparent exile, had been of great help in teaching the Tibetan gargoyles the 'moves' of a warrior. And to perfect them, Demona had been taking small groups out at night to raid Khan's supply lines. She didn't know about China's defeat against Khan's forces and believed that war was still ongoing. As such, she was certain that Khan's forces were likely being supplied from Khan's main base.

So, if she raided it and took the weapons, the Tibetan clan would gain the weapons needed to hold out, and Khan's army would 'starve'. From there, Demona expected the human battles to turn back toward Khan's headquarters as Demona's raids weakened him. And by doing things on a small scale, Demona felt confident that she wouldn't be sending the entire Tibetan clan into a fight they weren't prepared for. She gave Wedrington the list of the Tibetans who were up for this run tonight and then moved toward the back of the cave.

"The rest of that can wait until after breakfast though," Demona then spoke, "and to allow me to converse with Yama and Yoshi on how they think the training of the Tibetan gargoyles is going."

Wedrington nodded and moved to follow her.

"You will permit me to go with you tonight," Wedrington spoke to her, making Demona turn. When she did so, he looked a little embarrassed, "Please."

"I would be happy to have you by my side," Demona said to him.

She would have liked nothing more then make Wedrington a warrior, but so far he had insisted that he wasn't. If pushed he would defend himself, and from what Demona had seen since his transformation, he'd done a good job of that. But her time with him had made her appreciate many of the things she probably didn't even care about before. She wouldn't force him to take on a warrior's role, but if he wanted to do so on his own, she wasn't going to stand in his way.

"I'll make a warrior out of you yet," Demona said with a soft smile.

"It's mostly to make sure you're safe," Wedrington answered her, "you may find this strange but I awoke with a very bad feeling... like something is going to happen. And I do not wish to see something bad happen to you."

Demona sighed silently at that. The fact that he wished to protect her and be with her reassured her that his attraction to her was real, and was beginning to become a reminder that even though he had been human, the magic that changed him did a thorough job. His wish to protect her was no different from any other gargoyle male. Human males, she had been told would respond this way at times, but Demona had this sense that Wedrington was coming more from a gargoyle's natural instinct to protect. Not his own personal attraction.

"Nothing will happen," Demona answered, "remember that I can not be killed unless it is Macbeth who does the dead... and I doubt he would side with the likes of Khan... He and I may have had our difficulties after my betrayal of him... but he has always been a man of honor. He would never side with someone such as Khan."

"Doesn't mean they can't capture you," Wedrington pointed out, "or kill the Tibetans."

That Demona couldn't argue with.

**Khan's Base**

"I will tell you here that I am not entirely in favor of this trap idea, Damien," Khan answered, "Our men NEED the supplies this base carries."

"I know, sir," Damien said slowly, "but Demona has proven to be a maneuverable and cunning adversary. Unless you create an army of clones like me or Marilyn... she will move from supply run to supply run and taking on the one that is the most vulnerable. The one that I am not patrolling."

"Yes, Marilyn has already told me of this," Khan nodded.

Khan didn't like the plan, but he had to admit that there was some logic to it. The Tibetan gargoyles that Demona had been monitoring were no threat to him, but Demona was. And while she raided his supply lines at will, he had problems to solve. But this battle had to come quick and had to be decisive. Demona could not escape.

"I do not entirely agree with the tactics, but we appear to be stuck with these tactics for the moment," Khan sighed, "but I have other plans advancing and it will be imperative for our success that Demona not survive the trap you have decided to use."

"Don't worry, she won't escape, sir," Damien promised.

"She must not," Khan answered, "and for that reason, I'm sending twenty armed supermen with you. If Demona attacks, they will gun down anyone with her and you will deal with Demona herself. If you fail, your back up will deal with her. If you wish to aide Marilyn in her present mission, I would hope, Damien that you succeed in killing her... or at least capturing her."

"I will not fail," Damien answered.

"Good," Khan said firmly, "now get going. The infantrymen are already waiting with the supply trucks and you're behind schedule."

"Yes, sir," Damien acknowledged and moved on.

Damien moved on to get to the trucks that would be carrying the one night time supply run that Khan would be running for the moment. He grumbled a bit to himself as he went. While Demona would resent him as his being clone of her with one chromosome altered to a Y, Damien did carry many of the same traits that Demona was recognizing as a problem. He didn't like being ridiculed or having ideas being second guessed while Marilyn's were approved, or the fact that he needed Marilyn's help to get his idea approved.

Forcing Demona into a trap was his idea and his alone. He didn't need Marilyn's help, and on top of that, the plan was a good one. Demona would be lured to the lone supply run and he would catch her and defeat her. And yet he was being second guessed by Khan. He wasn't trusted while Marilyn was. If he wasn't good enough to be trusted as a part of Khan's operation why didn't he have Marilyn there to baby-sit him?

"I'll show him," Damien vowed to himself, "I'll show him that Marilyn is nothing but a cheap tart for simple errands! Who's she facing? A bunch of nobodies that don't know she's there! And who will I be facing? One of history's most powerful sorceresses who will suspect that I am there."

He was still grumbling when he made it to the supply trucks that he was to ride in. The supermen there were quiet as he climbed into the leading truck. He pulled down the coverings and then moved to an open spot on one of the benches.

"When I bring in Demona's severed head... then he'll know that I am better then Marilyn," Damien thought eagerly to himself.

**In the Air...**

In the air, Demona and Wedrington and the small patrol team of gargoyles that were there for their round of 'live action' training circled in the night, waiting for some sign that Khan was going to send out a supply shipment. They were mostly circling the fortress that the Illuminati had built and was now being used by Khan's forces. They stayed far enough away to avoid being shot at, but close enough to monitor the comings and goings around the fort.

After a few moments, a series of trucks drove out of the gates to the fortress and began to amble down the road. There were two or three in the group and they remained close together. They all stayed on the same road.

"It would appear they're all going to the same spot," Wedrington commented.

"And that they're they only supply run for the night," Demona nodded, "we'll ambush it away from Khan's base."

"Why are they only sending one convoy tonight?" one of the Tibetan gargoyles wondered aloud.

"More then likely it is a trap," Demona answered, "with additional hired guns guarding the goods, expecting you to just charge in."

"Then maybe wait until they get to a spot where we can roll a large number of large rocks onto them," another Tibetan gargoyle offered, "let them shoot the rocks rather then us."

"A good idea," Demona nodded and then banked to follow the trucks for a little while, "A way around their potential numbers and the fact that they will be armed while we are not..."

"You told us not to take any of the weapon's we've confiscated from Khan's men on these patrols," the first Tibetan gargoyle pointed out.

"To help you train and prepare for the final battles with Khan," Demona answered, "to prepare you for the final battle. Anyone can shoot a gun. A true warrior figures out how to defeat an armed opponent while being unarmed him or herself."

The others slowly nodded and banked to follow Demona as they moved to get away from Khan's base. After a few moments, the convoy of trucks came to a rather rugged area in the mountains around the area. As they did so, Demona began to move ahead to stop the convoy.

"I'm going ahead to stop them!" Demona called back, "the rest of you move to a position where you can dislodge the rocks down on them!"

"Right!" the Tibetans answered and then banked to follow Wedrington as he had headed in that direction without saying a word.

Wedrington lead them somewhat ahead of the convoy of trucks to a spot on the mountainside where there appeared to be a good many large and loose rocks. Dislodging them and sending them down the mountain would take a bit of work, but the feet was doable, provided Demona could get the convoy to stop and leave the convoy a sitting target.

In the trucks, Damien could only wait for the inevitable ambush. He knew it would be coming and that this convoy probably wouldn't make it to where it was supposed to go, but it wasn't really intended to there. It was a trap for Demona and the small groups of gargoyles she was leading to ambush the supply runs. When she attacked, he would attack her and the supermen commandos with him would gun down the gargoyles that were helping Demona. It probably wouldn't put an end to the fighting in the area against these gargoyles, but without Demona their advantages would be gone.

But for awhile, there was no sign that there was anything obvious. The trucks had canvas "roofs" that didn't let anyone look out and up. He couldn't see that Demona was already laying her trap for the convoy and would thus force Damien and the commandos with him to adapt to whatever tactic Demona decided to use to initiate her raid on the convoy. But, Damien was determined to do so. To overcome whatever Demona would throw at him and show Marilyn that he was the better weapon to use against the Illuminati.

"After all," Damien thought to himself as they rode along, "Marilyn has had her shots against Demona and failed in all of them. If I defeat her... I will upstage that clone of Merlin clone! I am ready!"

He then glanced to the commandos in the truck with him. They were well dressed for the coldness that came with the elevations they were at and small oxygen tanks were nearby incase they needed more oxygen to breathe properly. They were also well armed with assault rifles, particle beam weapons, and even some light machineguns. Any attack on them would be met with firepower that Demona's raiders couldn't meet.

"They are ready too!" Damien thought confidently to himself.

His silent confidence was broken, however when there was a great scream from the cab of the truck.

"THERE SHE IS!" the driver of the truck shouted at the top of his lungs.

"SHOOT HER!" the passenger in the front seat shouted.

Damien turned and crawled around the supplies in the truck to look through a window to the cab and the truck's windshield. To his surprise he saw Demona standing about one hundred yards ahead of them. He couldn't tell what she was saying, but he could easily tell that she was getting ready or already was casting some sort of spell.

"Brace yourselves!" Damien ordered immediately, knowing that Demona would likely do something to force the convoy to stop rather then actually destroying it.

He was proved right when he looked back to see what looked like a giant rock wall rise straight out of the earth in front of them. The driver had no time to stop. He hit the brakes, but all that did was slow them down a bit. The truck hit the rock wall and nearly full speed and was brought to a bone jarring halt. The engine block was bent in. Damien and many of the commandos where thrown to a side as the truck made impact with the wall. And that wasn't the end, the truck's behind Damien's couldn't stop in time either and slammed into the back of the stopped truck.

The secondary crash did more damage. It twisted the truck Damien was in sideways and continued to push it through the rock wall that Demona had erected. It threw crates around the inside of the truck with two commandos being hit by them and firing their weapons into the air. And the these processes were repeated in each of the other trucks as well as Damien heard other shots be fired. As things finally calmed down, Damien had looked to the area in front of the truck. His view was a bit restricted now, but as far as he could tell, Demona was no longer there.

"Is everyone alright?!" Damien called out, "this is the start of the raid! Be ready!"

"Rhan's been shot! Johun got hit with a crate and accidentally fired!" came an answer from one of the other trucks.

Damien only sighed as there were at least two other reports of that nature. He also learned that about three men had also suffered simple fractures as a result of the accidents, and the truck's drivers were apparently unconscious. Demona had landed the first blow in this raid, and the blow had been a good one. But, Damien had expected it, and three men wounded three more injured as a result of the crash still left Damien with a fairly impressive force. He had started with fifty supermen, and now he had forty four, still outnumbering the gargoyles that Demona was training.

All they had to do was recover and move out along the ground. Leave the trucks behind, take the high ground and gun down Demona's trainees.

"Now is the time men!" Damien thundered, "the time of Demona's demise! All those who can fight, prepare yourselves and spread out. We'll gun them down and bring in Demona's head! Move!"

"What about the wounded?" one of the superman commandos in truck with Damien asked.

"They can hunker down and wait for us to finish this, or join in if they feel they can," Damien responded, "but we must respond!"

And they did begin to respond.

From the mountain top, Wedrington and the Tibetan gargoyles looked down as Demona cast whatever spell she intended to use against Khan's convoy to stop them. She had raised a large chunk of rock, probably from within the mountain itself to block the path of the trucks. The impact was powerful and put all of the trucks into large pileup.

"That ought to stop them!" one of the Tibetans said confidently.

"You can never know," Wedrington answered, "we have to move the rocks, now! Before they can recover!"

The Tibetan gargoyles nodded and immediately set to work on the project. Wedrington could understand some of the excitement that the Tibetans had felt. Many of the things they had seen since Khan had forced them from their monastery home had been new for them. He knew they weren't fond of fighting, but would do so if pushed, and so far, Khan's war had pushed them into a situation like this. And made them encounter the things that they had not seen in the monastery they had grown up in.

They were quick in the task that was given, and Wedrington did his best to both supervise and help along. The rockslide they intended to cause would insure that the trucks could not be backed out and that many of the men guarding them would not be able to hold out against Demona's raid on the convoy. Demona was still on the ground, but had gone around a corner in the road. Occasionally Wedrington looked in her direction to make sure she was okay. He still couldn't shake the idea that something would happen tonight, but so far things were going fairly well.

Of course, the notion of things going well began to vanish when large numbers of armed commandos jumped out of the trucks. They rapidly began firing a host of weapons up at the Tibetan gargoyles. Most of the shots went high, but a few did come dangerously close. Still, the Tibetan gargoyles did their best using their strength to pry the large boulders out and down on Khan's men below them. And in this they ultimately got a bit of help. One or two of the non-projectile weapons slammed into bits of the rock below them all. When the particle beams exploded, the resulting fissures combined with the Tibetan's efforts to pry the rocks loose.

"And there they go..." one the Tibetans announced as a great rockslide slid down the mountain toward Damien, Khan's commandos, and the trucks they had been riding in.

On the ground, Damien casually observed the battle as it developed. He figured his trap had to be a bit of a shock to the small grouping of gargoyles that had likely come with Demona as they seemed to be focused on hiding up amongst the rocks at the top of the mountain. If they weren't they would have rushed down in a diving charge already.

"They're hiding up and amongst the rocks," one commando reported, "and it appears that there is too much snow and ice here to climb directly."

"And there's still no sign of Demona!" another added.

Damien paused for a moment. He knew Demona was somewhere on this battlefield. She had initiated the raid on the supply convoy, just as she always did. Eventually, Damien was sure she would enter the fray, but for the moment the commando was right in assuming that she hadn't... at least she hadn't done any more then her initial strike.

"They want to hide?" Damien questioned, "then blast away at the mountain with the particle beam weapons! We'll destroy the mountain and expose them!"

The commandos nodded, and those with particle beam weapons then unleashed a barrage of the blasts at the mountain. All of the shots hit below where Demona's raiders where, but that was the intention. By aiming low, they would destroy the rocky cover they were using. Demona's gargoyles would have to either charge or retreat. And at first, it looked as though the blasts would do the job.

Then came the effects of the blasts themselves, and that dashed Damien's hopes and even put him it a bit of terror at what was happening. The blasts in a way did expose the gargoyles raiding the supply convoy, but they did so by also bringing down a torrent of large boulders falling down the mountain. As they came down, they seemed to dislodge several other large boulders that just happened to be in the way of the ones that were coming down.

"Take cover!" Damien yelled as the boulders landed amongst Khan's commandos and the disabled trucks.

Many of them tried to get away, but what hit them was an avalanche. Trucks that were hit were practically crushed. In come cases, the falling rocks set of grenades and other explosive weapons in the truck, which served to destroy it utterly and did additional damage to the other trucks in the area and to any of the commandos that were in the area. Men were it and were knocked out... at best. Damien heard a series of sickening crunching noises, which made him certain that some of the commandos had been crushed to death. And that wasn't an impossibility.

The supermen had been engineered to be better then normal humans in all things including strength. But a lot of that appeared to only matter if they were ready for it. If they weren't, they were crushed just as easily as a normal person was. Or it could be that the term enhanced strength was relative. They may be stronger then normal humans, but it was only by a little bit. Damien had never seen any of the testing records, so he couldn't be entirely sure, and at present, he didn't have time to figure that all out.

"All right... that's enough!" Damien roared and leaped into the air and went over the edge of the cliff that made one edge of the road the trucks had been driving on.

He went down a fair distance, but his wings soon caught enough winds and updrafts and was gliding back up. He intended to go and destroy all of Demona's raiders. Demona had started the raid by stopping the trucks in the convoy, but it was the gargoyles that she'd been training that had done the most damage. Many of his men were now out of the fight, and nearly all of their weapons were destroyed. And Damien had to make them pay for that. Unfortunately he did not go unnoticed.

Demona had done very little in the course of this ambush. She cast the spell needed to stop the trucks in the convoy, but from there, she had stepped back so that she could observe the Tibetan gargoyles. And so far they were doing well, especially with Wedrington to help them. She watched them move to roll several large boulders down the mountain toward Khan's commandos. In the process, she then heard the resulting chaos that followed.

The commandos fired non-projectile weapons at the mountain, and when the particle beam exploded, they ended up causing an even bigger rockslide when combined with what Wedrington and the Tibetan gargoyles were doing. Demona quietly listened to the various sounds of chaos as men screamed, rocks slammed into something made of metal, and even an explosion or too.

"A good tactical solution, I suppose," Demona mused to herself and was ready to move in, in case it appeared that Khan's commandos would recover and drive Wedrington and the Tibetans away.

However, as waited a form caught her eye. And that form was Damien. The clone that Khan had made of her, but with a chromosome switched. The male clone was in an upward glide trying to recover from the rockslide that Wedrington and the Tibetans had started and Khan's own commandos had finished. And with the sight of the clone, her own rage boiled over. Her time with Wedrington may have softened her on her attitude toward humans in general, but there were some things that Demona would never tolerate. The violation of her genetic code was one of them, and that even went back to Sevarius and Thailog creating Delilah from hers and Elisa Maza's DNA.

And so, Demona let lose her own battle cry and began to rapidly glide down toward Damien as he tried to glide up. He noticed her just before they met, but didn't have enough time to fully react as Demona plowed into him with full force. She drove him downward until they landed at the bottom of the ravine created by the mountains that Khan's convoy had been trying to navigate.

"You will pay for what you've done!" Damien growled in anger.

"And you will pay for your violation of my person!" Demona growled back in equal anger, not really thinking about what her charge could potentially mean.

Demona then lashed at Damien with one fist, getting him to jump back and giving her the room to prepare a real attack on him.

While Demona engaged Damien, Wedrington and the other Tibetan gargoyles managed to recover from unleashing the rockslide on Khan's commandos and were already planning their next move.

"They must have brought fifty commandos!" a female Tibetan in the group commented as they looked down toward the vast chaos below them.

"Yes," Wedrington nodded, "but it looks like the rockslide got the better of them. It'd be best to move quickly before they get an opportunity to recover. We can't tell how many were wounded when we brought the rocks down on them."

"What about Demona?" a male Tibetan wondered.

Wedrington saw what looked like a flash of lightening come ravine bellow.

"I believe she's otherwise indisposed at the moment," Wedrington sighed, "Let's go! And go quickly!"

And with that, Wedrington launched himself from the top of the mountain they were on, even if it had lost a bit of height. The Tibetan gargoyles were quick to follow. Below them was a very chaotic scene. There were wrecked and crushed vehicles, piles of rubble, some small fires, injured and disoriented men, and now a handful men who were still conscious and in a position to fight back.

"Move quick and remember to focus on an individual target before he can react!" Wedrington instructed as they dove down.

He ended up catching a lone superman commando who was struggling to his feet after dodging a couple of the larger boulders. Wedrington had a fair amount of surprise on his side, as the commando was looking in his direction. His blow was half punch and half using the momentum of his dive as a weapon. It sent the commando tumbling forward, and ultimately he tripped over some of the rubble and fell face first into the side of the convoy's trucks. He remained conscious after this, but that was fixed as Wedrington then landed and clubbed him between the shoulders with both fists.

He then looked around to see that the Tibetans had managed the same success by being able to surprise one or two of the commandos as they tried to get back to their feet. Which would hopefully allow the Tibetans to gain some confidence when it would come to battles in which they would not have such a decided advantage of surprise and disorientation. However there was one commando who was in a position to do something about the attack that mounted on them.

He was a commando who had been closer to the mountainside when the rockslide had come down the mountain. When the rocks did fall, the commando clung to the side of the mountain and let the mountain act as a natural shield. And the tactic had largely worked. The larger boulders did bounce away from the mountainside as they went down it. The commando didn't escape unscathed, but he did better then many of the other commandos were either killed by the rockslide or seriously injured by it. And he had just watched the gargoyles that set to raid the convoy dive down those that were in the open and managed to avoid being crushed.

The while lion-like gargoyle clubbed one with some confidence while a small group of Chinese dragon-like gargoyles managed to clumsily overpower a few of his comrades. The surviving commando had lost his main weapon in the rockslide, but he still had a handgun and he was determined to use it. If only to make at least one gargoyle pay. But he was not unnoticed.

"Look out!" Wedrington rushed forward and managed to get a grip on the commando's hand that held the handgun.

He rushed past one of the male Tibetans in the attack on the commando, and surprise allowed him to manage to crush the handgun that the commando was trying to draw from his holster. For the moment that was the only 'good' that Wedrington had got out of the conflict as the commando began to wrestle back against his attack. In doing so, Wedrington was reminded that these supermen were practically as strong as a gargoyle was, even if they didn't look it. He'd intended to pin the commando against the side of the mountain, but instead, Wedrington found himself being pinned against the mountain.

"Your interference ends here!" the commando growled into Wedrington's face.

Wedrington managed to get him off by kneeing the man in his gut. He released Wedrington from his grasp and staggered back a bit, trying to catch his breath. He didn't get far as the Tibetan gargoyle that Wedrington had brushed past landed a flying kick to the commando's backside, which sent the man rapidly stumbling forward. Wedrington assisted him by then forcing him into the side of the mountain, knocking the man unconscious.

"Thank you," Wedrington said to the Tibetan gargoyle.

"It was no problem," the Tibetan male spoke, "besides, he might have killed me if you hadn't rushed him."

Wedrington nodded and moved on to see that the other Tibetans had also knocked out the other commandos that were still capable of fighting. There were others who were conscious, but were too hurt by the rockslide.

"They appear to have been taken out by the rockslide," the female Tibetan reported, "do you think that it would do this much?"

"Not really," Wedrington admitted, "but then, when they fired the non-projectile weapons at the rocks below us, they unleashed a rockslide that was far bigger then what we would have created on our own."

The other Tibetans then nodded.

"So, what shall we do?" one asked.

"Collect what equipment you can carry," Wedrington instructed, "I'll check on Demona."

The Tibetans had set to that task quickly. It had become a portion of Demona's campaign to train the Tibetans. The main purpose was to train the Tibetan gargoyles into effective warriors, but the other part was to insure that they had the arms to carry the war to Khan. Demona had enslaved a couple of Khan's commandos with magic to use as daylight guards and they would need some thing that would allow her, Wedrington, the two Ishimuran gargoyles, and the Tibetan clan have some protection while they slept in stone. These daylight guardians needed equipment more then they did, and Demona's raids also served to insure that they would have weapons.

But for the moment, that wasn't a concern for Wedrington. He made his way around the carnage of unconscious men, wrecked and burning vehicles, and the rubble of fallen rocks to get to where he could see where Demona was. The strange feeling that something was going to happen hadn't left him. He had to make sure she was okay.

Demona and Damien's fight had turned out to be a fairly balanced affair. As with most battles of magic, elemental attacks were thrown at the other, be it lightening or fire. Some weapon that would do harm to the other. Of course there were other spells that could be used, but Demona could remember the various 'lessons' that the Mage had given her when he had quite literally enslaved her to him, as well as from other various lessons that she had had in her past from various sources. The Archmage and other characters.

Complex spells took time to cast and could easily be interrupted. And in combat, deciding to go for a spell that would 'win' the fight in one blow was unwise because of the effort and time needed to cast the spell. The target would likely recover before the spell could be cast. And the enslavement spell only worked on someone who had less magical power then the sorcerer casting the spell. And since Damien was her equal in power, that meant that she couldn't enslave him.

"Hold still!" Damien roared as hurled a large boulder at Demona, hoping to knock her off balance.

Demona dodged the attack and caught Damien with a lightning spell as he moved to follow up his attack with the boulder by lunging forward. And that was likely where the fight between them would be settled between them. Since in terms of power and magical knowledge they were equals, the only place where the battle could be decided would be in an outright physical confrontation. And there were some advantages that went in a couple of ways. Damien being a male was bigger and stronger then Demona was, but Demona had years of experience that Damien didn't have beyond some clone program...

And Demona was determined to let her experience help her wherever it could. Her lightning spell had sent Damien back away. She then carefully approached him as he climbed to his feet.

"I refused to follow such commands a thousand years ago," Demona taunted the clone, "what makes you think that I'm going to suddenly obey those commands now?"

"You're ruining everything!" Damien roared and lunged forward again, his fists crackling with the electricity of a lighting spell that wasn't thrown.

"I am defending my race," Demona stated her primary mission in life, "you're serving some tyrant. If anything I am improving things."

Demona dodged his fists, but only just barely. In fact, she found herself being backed against the slope of one of the mountains that rose up and above where they were fighting. Damien may not be experienced, but Demona did have to admit the fact that his greater strength and their equal powers in magic did help him out. As she backed up, one of her feet slipped on the side of the mountain and she found herself tumbling backward. She was ultimately caught, but not in a way she would have wanted.

It was Damien who had caught her, and done so by the neck. He then slammed her back so that her head hit the side of the mountain. The blow caught Demona by surprise and disoriented her a bit. As she began to come out of her disorientation, she looked up to see Damien preparing to throw another lightning spell at her, this time at point blank rank. The blow wouldn't kill her, but she doubted she'd be able to do anything for quite awhile.

"I'm serving a new era and a new world!" Damien stated his mission to retort Demona's, "and unlike you, I'm not out to kill the entire human race to do it! And when I bring your head in, Khan will see that I am the best suited to bringing this world into existence."

Damien was about to throw the lightning spell when another roar came down from above them. Damien paused in his attack to see Wedrington and one of the Tibetan gargoyles diving down on them. He didn't a chance to see if they were armed as the English gargoyle landed a strong blow that knocked him off of Demona.

"NOOOOOO!" Wedrington roared as he saw that Damien was about to finish Demona off.

This had to be the 'something' that he expected to happen. He had pledged to defend Demona. He was not about to let her come to harm. He couldn't let any harm come to her. And he threw a strong punch just as he reached where Damien was. The blow made him release Demona and Wedrington landed on the side of the mountain, digging all of his talons into the rock. He ended up leaving some deep claw marks in the stone when gravity pulled him down the one or two feet needed to put him on equal footing with Demona and Damien.

"No..." Damien growled as he recovered, "You're ruining everything!"

"And you're threatening my mate!" Wedrington growled, coming from a very emotional mood that he found he couldn't restrain.

Demona, herself, blinked in response to this, as she hadn't expected that from Wedrington either.

"And why would you want an old Scottish whore?" Damien taunted.

Wedrington roared in challenge and lunged forward, to which Damien only dodged and landed a blow that came down on the white lion-like gargoyle's back, directly between his wings. The blow hurt and sent Wedrington the ground.

"I'll finish you as soon as I'm finished with your mate," Damien said with a smile and was ready to move on Demona when he felt something hit his side, and then stinging pain.

Demona prepared to resist Damien's attack when there was a loud noise from the side. BAM! It was a gunshot that caught Damien in the side of his chest and sent him crumpling to the ground. He struggled for a moment or two, but after a few seconds, he was still. Demona turned to see that the one who had fired the shot was one of the Tibetan gargoyles. She was armed with one of the working rifles that had been part of the convoy that Damien had been guarding.

"The supermen have either been killed by the rockslide or are otherwise incapacitated," the Tibetan female reported, "we are recovering their supplies... at least the ones that were destroyed in the ambush."

"Very good," Demona answered, "that'll let us hold out for a little while. Keep up the good work. Wedrington and I will be there to help shortly."

The Tibetan nodded and went to climb back up to the cliff and road area where the ambush had begun. Demona, meanwhile, moved to help Wedrington up.

"You called me your mate," Demona said to him as she did so.

"I'm sorry," Wedrington apologized, "I saw him about to harm you... and..."

"You responded as any gargoyle that has seen his love threatened," Demona finished, "it was natural, Wedrington... believe me. Any gargoyle would have done as you've done if his or her mate were in danger."

"I shouldn't have said anything you might not have wanted," Wedrington then said weakly.

Demona gave a soft smile and then hugged Wedrington to her.

"But I want you," Demona smiled and gave him a soft kiss.

Wedrington managed to kiss her back, and the two enjoyed the quiet for the moment. When they separated from the kiss they turned to Damien's fallen form.

"We'll probably need to move from where we are," Wedrington commented, "Khan probably expected him to keep us occupied. With him gone now... he may simply just blow the mountain we're in away."

"That's if he knows we're there," Demona pointed out.

"Are you willing to take that chance?" Wedrington asked.

Demona thought for a moment and then sighed, "No. We'd best get back. Moving everything will need to be done quickly and as quietly as possible."

**Khan's Base**

Khan sat in command office reviewing various reports that had been radioed to his base over the course of the night. Most of them were from supermen units that had gone out with other anti-Illuminati units, but there were a handful from some normal anti-Illuminati units. For the most part the reports were encouraging. Streets were being repaired and lists were being compiled for what buildings would need to be built. But that all related to the rebuilding of China after the war the Illuminati. The only reports he didn't have were from Marilyn and from Damien.

Marilyn's lack of reporting could be understood. She was on a world wide mission to decapitate the Illuminati's leadership. In doing so, the organization they needed to covertly control the world would vanish and it would die. That would give Khan more time to plan his next move and create more supermen. And he would need to do that in order to make his next move successful. The anti-Illuminati Chinese had been helpful in taking over China, as had the Tibetans, but Khan couldn't play the Illuminati card again. At present he couldn't access the proof he would need to make sure it wasn't sounding like he was merely beating a war drum. Marilyn's success would give Khan the time he needed, and he was also certain that Marilyn could take care of herself.

It was Damien's lack of return that worried him. He had been created to balance things out with regard to dealing with Demona and to give him a force in sorcery that could strike around the clock. Marilyn could aide him during the day and Damien was to pick up at night while Marilyn slept. And in terms of dealing with Demona, Khan did remember the battles between Marilyn and Demona early on. Marilyn had not succeeded in those fights, and he had assumed that perhaps a clone gargoyle would do better. Especially if the clone was a clone of Demona, herself. Damien had been confident when he left, but Khan had found that he had not returned.

For the moment, he hoped that it was merely a matter of timing. That the planned ambush worked, but Damien had been caught by the suns rays before he could begin to return to the base. It wasn't much of a hope, but it was all Khan had at the moment. He paused in checking these reports when his Second in Command appeared at his office door.

"Yes..." Khan spoke in acknowledgement of his Second in Command.

"We've finally located Damien, sir," his Second in Command reported, "along with the bulk of the convoy that was sent out last night."

"Him AND the convoy?" Khan asked, standing up.

"Yes, sir," Khan's Second answered, "it would appear that Demona defeated Damien's attempted ambush."

"Damn!" Khan cursed, "I had hopes that he would do better... especially while Marilyn is dealing the death blow to the Illuminati."

Khan's Second didn't say anything in response. He didn't want to upset his commander any more then he already was. Khan eventually gave a sigh and sat back down. This report would set him back. It was partially why he didn't want to run the ambush plan to begin with. While there was no guarantee of catching Demona the other way, there was to a certain extent less risk. Demona couldn't hit EVERY convoy in one night. But now, that debate was a moot point. Demona had won.

"Are there any survivors?" Khan asked.

"Among the commandos, yes, though they will be in medical care for awhile," Khan's Second answered, "according their reports though... Damien did not survive. He was shot by one the dragon-like gargoyles."

"That makes this worse," Khan sighed.

"What do we do, sir?" Khan's Second asked.

"Arrange for a bomber to level the entire mountain that Demona had hollowed out," Khan sighed, "I'd hoped to avoid such a measure, but now we have no choice."

"Demona would likely still survive," his Second pointed out.

"But without the others it won't matter," Khan answered, "if need be we can overpower her."

His second nodded.

"In the meantime, collect Damien's body," Khan sighed, "we'll see if the scientists can accurately make a clone of a clone."

"Some things may be lost in that, sir," his Second warned, "considering the accelerated growth processes used."

"Unless you have a fresh sample of Demona or Merlin's DNA on you, we don't have much choice, now do we?" Khan questioned.

"No, sir," Khan's Second acknowledged and left Khan's office.

Khan only sat back in his chair and sighed heavily, "and things were once going so well..."

**The End...**


	22. Sleep

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place immediately after "Traps and Assassins".

Sleep

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Khan's Base, Tibet**

Khan stood quietly as he looked out over the mountains of Tibet as a pair of bombers flew overhead. He paid little attention to their specific make or model. They were planes built for China and came under his control as his units overran Chinese air bases or as Chinese pilots defected to his side to rid their country of the Illuminati. And for the moment, they had one mission, blowing up the cave that Demona had been using.

"You know that this won't kill her," his Second in Command said to him from slightly behind him, "Unless we are able to get our hands on Macbeth and convince him to join us, we cannot kill her."

"That can wait until we get to Britain," Khan answered, "After Demona is captured."

The second in command nodded nervously. Demona had defeated and killed Damien the night before. As a result, the clone of Demona that they had made to have a Y chromosome rather than an X chromosome was no longer capable of protecting the Illuminati base that they had commandeered. The changing of his gender from female to male in the lab was done to tell Damien apart from Demona more easily and would allow him to insure that Demona didn't do something like assault the base. Now, however, that wasn't an issue. Damien was dead and gone, and Demona's attack route was now clear. Marilyn was likely too far away to be called back, and her mission was just as important to Khan's future as Damien had been.

That led to the decision to send the bombers to blast away at the cave that Demona had been using. They couldn't kill Demona, but the bombs would kill all of the other gargoyles with her, and leaving her alone. She'd go into some rage at the destruction of 'her' clan and would assault the fortress on her own. Khan knew that her attack would do damage, but on her own, he knew he would have the forces to overwhelm her. Once she was unconscious or 'dead' and in their possession, they could place her in one of their cells. One specifically designed by the Illuminati to contain and control beings that used magic.

"However it goes," Khan continued, "she will be gone, and we will get the pleasure of torturing her mind."

"Of course," his second in command nodded, sensing that there was some personal want for vengeance against Demona.

It appeared as though Damien had been more than a key weapon to Khan. The second in command, however, didn't protest this all that much. Many people throughout history had desired vengeance for one wrong or another. And while the supermen had been made to be faster, stronger, and smarter than normal humans, it did not remove their ability to feel emotions, which was at the basis of all human life. And besides, they'd need to deal with Demona anyway.

"Also, make sure that we have plenty of men on roof tonight," Khan instructed, "I want to be ready for when Demona comes charging in too angry to realize the trap."

Khan's second in command nodded and said nothing for a moment as the sound of a great explosion echoed through the mountains. As the sound of this died down, Khan's second then spoke.

"All available units are already on their way, sir," Khan's second spoke, "we will be prepared."

"Excellent," Khan nodded and then went inside.

**Somewhere in South Korea**

Marilyn meanwhile was enjoying herself as she charged through a South Korean army base. Her mission to eliminate Illuminati officers that were in positions of power was going quite well. She had made her way through North Korea and was now making her way through South Korea. A trail of death and devastation followed her wherever she went, using the mirrors to move between locations quickly. It created a look as though the attacks were occurring simultaneously, which would surely give the Illuminati fits as whoever monitored their internal elections struggled to try and counter the loss of so many command members.

But countering her would be difficult, and it would be due to more than just her magic. She managed to make each assassination somewhat different from the others. One looked as though an office building had been gassed; another would look like a case of arson, and this one looked like some bizarre one 'man' assault. She was presently dressed in what would look like the robes worn by the Illuminati Councilmembers and was using rather direct tactics on the South Korean soldiers defending her target.

"Come out and face me coward!" she called out in a voice that sounded more masculine than she truly was, "your lackeys won't stop me."

A man rushed at her with his rifle ready, and a bayonet affixed to the end of the barrel. Marilyn caught the rifle by its barrel and twisted in a way to avoid the bayonet and delivered a kick to the man's chest. The blow knocked the man back, much to his surprise, and Marilyn then took full possession of his weapon. The soldier that rushed her was the first to taste the sting of his own weapon, and Marilyn continued her advance onward.

"Come on, big bad Illuminati man! You can't be afraid of one lone woman!" Marilyn taunted, "I'm sure you know I'm not a REAL member of your council!"

She kicked in the door to what was a South Korean army's mess hall and advanced inside. Crouching behind the main serving area and under a large mirror was the leading Illuminati member that she was there to kill. He was cowering for the moment, as most of his protection was dead by now, which likely meant that the Illuminati had lost soldiers that were under the direct employ of their organization in addition to 'innocents' who had simply been in the crossfire. Marilyn ignored that and advanced on the cowering Illuminati member.

"Come on, show a little bravery," Marilyn commented.

She raised the weapon she had confiscated and just about to fire when the man rose up, produced a pistol and fired two shots. One missed her, but only just. The other shot hit the gun that she was preparing to fire and knocked it out of her hands.

"You talk too much!" the Illuminatus commented and fired again.

This time, Marilyn was ready, and did a rolling dive to avoid the shots aimed at her. As she did so, she produced a throwing star, and as she landed on her feet again, she threw it at the man she had been assigned to kill. The man's eyes widened greatly as the small weapon approached him, and ultimately hit him in the neck. Marilyn calmly watched as the man fell to the ground gripping at the wound, frantically trying to stop the bleeding.

"I may talk too much…" Marilyn admitted, "But that is because I have the power to afford it. You're nothing but a petty administrator. Nothing in my league… and trust me, I've faced down people much more powerful then you."

She then quietly took the man's own gun and finished him off. Marilyn was then quick to dive back into the mirrors and continue on to her next target. It was a unique method of transportation, but Khan had been right that her fey magic allowed it, and in was enabling her to cover miles of territory in seconds. She also felt something that amounted to raw power coming from somewhere. It actually seemed to help her target the next Illuminati member in ways that she hadn't thought of earlier. That made her mission easier, and she was confident that soon, the Illuminati would be effectively destroyed, and Khan's ultimate victory assured.

**Tibet, Dusk**

"We'll need to make a bigger move, tonight," Demona sighed heavily to Wedrington, Yama, Yoshi, Shi La, and Je Lu as they discussed the strategy they were to take.

The training missions for the Tibetan clan had gone relatively well and they had managed to ambush and confiscate small groups of either anti-Illuminati Chinese or Khan's supermen and take their supplies for their own use. It had been a fairly easy system, but things had recently changed. Earlier in the campaign, Khan had seemed to be willing to let make the raids, but more recently these training raids were becoming more of a nuisance for him and he had authorized Damien, the male clone of Demona, to launch some sort of ambush against them. The trap had failed, but it did represent a change in tactics on Khan's part. He was now taking them seriously.

"You're sure?" Je Lu wondered, "You say we're all making progress, but I am not quite sure we are ready."

"We don't have much choice," Demona sighed, "Damien's actions show that Khan is now coming after us directly…"

"It's why we moved 'our' cave to this mountain," Wedrington commented, "If Khan assaults the old one, or levels it with bombers all he'll do is waste his ammunition."

"Yes," Demona nodded, "but it'd only be a true 'waste' if he believes we're killed in whatever daylight attack he might have launched while we slept. If we resume the small raids, he'll learn that his daytime attack failed and will then carry out similar attacks throughout the region, hoping to uncover our base of operations."

"He can't do that!" Yama protested, "Tibet may not be as densely populated as New York or Japan… but there are still people here. If he starts leveling mountains… he could kill people that are not involved in the war."

"War isn't an honorable thing," Wedrington commented, "War is hell where each side does everything possible to win. Now, sometimes a side can stand up and fight for what is right, but wars tend to hurt everyone. The innocent along with the guilty."

"This would be one of those cases where it is important, though," Demona commented, "Damien said something about remaking the world… and given that Khan has robbed you of your home… I doubt he will be kinder to others."

"We know we must fight Khan," Yama nodded, "and stopping him would allow me to regain my honor… but I still must feel that I must warn you that we need more time to prepare."

"We do not have it," Demona sighed weakly, "if we lay low to train… Khan will get stronger and might negate the training… or he'd move, forcing us to trail him. And if we return to raiding his supply lines, he will know you survived his attacks…"

"What about you?" Yoshi wondered.

"Unless they had Macbeth flying the plane or firing the cannon, Demona can't truly die," Wedrington spoke for her, "they might even use some of that to try and get you angry to the point where you'd ignore reason and glide into a bigger trap."

"Then perhaps there is a way to use that to OUR advantage," Demona mused, "and by using a little good planning of our own."

"Go on," Yama encouraged her to continue.

**Khan's Base**

"She will be coming shortly," Khan spoke his instructions to a squad of Illuminati supermen on the roof of the fortress, "I do not want you to leave for anything."

"Yes, sir," was the near robotic answer.

"Remember that she is a sorceress, so if she's thinking, the first thing that you'll likely encounter will be something that will throw off your aim," Khan continued, "fog, mist, snow, dust, anything that would make it hard for you to see."

"We are ready for her, sir," said the commander of the squad told Khan, "she won't make it through us… at least not without alerting the rest of the men at your command, and thus insuring that she is overwhelmed and ends up our prisoner."

Khan nodded and looked out to where he 'knew' Demona's base to be. The immortal female had killed Damien, and Marilyn was for the moment indisposed. The base was fairly open to attack from a sorcerer or sorceress of Demona's power and skill. Without them, he knew he couldn't match her when it came to magic, but he figured he did have the numbers and the fact that Demona would be enraged at the loss of the other gargoyles to the point where she would operate without thinking.

"Good," Khan answered, "Because the success of our mission depends on you!"

With that, Khan then went inside, while the squad commander acknowledged the command. As he went inside, he was met by his second in command.

"How long do you think it will take before she arrives?" his second in command asked, "dealing with someone who is 'immortal' is not something I've ever thought possible… at least not until Demona became involved."

"She was likely stone when our bombers hit the mountain she had hollowed out," Khan commented, "it will take a little while for the magic of the spell that gave her the immortality she has to take full effect… then followed by the horror at seeing her 'clan' dead… Once she's reassembled, I doubt we'll have to wait long. But, this is something very few have had to deal with before. For the most part, the Illuminati only monitored Demona in the past… not engaged her… at least not directly anyway."

"So, we're all equally in the dark," Khan's second in command mused.

"Pretty much," Khan nodded, "but make sure everyone else on the base is on full alert. Demona will be arriving fairly soon."

"At once," Khan's second nodded.

Outside the fortress and at a fair distance, Demona had already arrived. But, because she had moved to a different 'cave' after the death of Damien, the Tibetan clan was still very much alive and she had no reason to be in a blind fury. If it weren't for the fact that Khan would expand the war if they returned to raiding his supply convoys, she wouldn't have even brought all of the Tibetans with her in preparation for a massive battle and endgame with Khan.

"It looks like they have a full squad on the roof," Yoshi commented, "not enough to beat all of us… but more than enough draw attention."

"Khan expects me to be in a rage," Demona commented, "as such, he's expecting one female gargoyle that isn't really thinking."

"Maybe so, but even with that failure, Khan is in a good position," Yoshi reminded her, "all those men need to do is fire of shots… and men will come rushing to the roof to fight us."

"Then it's a good thing we won't be attacking the roof," Demona commented, "Have you found the ground level entrance, Wedrington?"

The white lion-like gargoyle carefully moved around the side of the cliff and mountainside they were using to hide from any prying eyes. Once he was close enough, he answered.

"They have a large door on ground level, about ten feet from the corner on the northwest side of the fortress," Wedrington answered, "and based on the construction, I doubt anyone on the roof would see us if we were to approach it on foot… assuming there is enough snow here for you to summon a decent sized blizzard."

"That part is easy," Demona answered, "I necessary I can just 'summon' snow to use and hurl into their eyes."

The others nodded in agreement to that. Demona continued to make sure that everyone was on the same page.

"But we will still have to move quickly," Demona reminded them, "I can only maintain the blizzard for a short while."

"We will hurry," Je Lu promised, "especially if it is to save China from this man."

The Tibetan gargoyles all nodded in agreement with their clan leader.

"For honor," Yama vowed.

Wedrington carefully reached out with one hand and took Demona's hand in his.

"To protect you… even if you don't truly need it," Wedrington told her.

"Then let's go!" Demona announced, and let out a loud and angry sounding battle cry to give Khan's men the impression that she was charging in on the red eye express.

On the roof, the squad guarding that area heard the roar and soon saw what appeared to be storm clouds rapidly forming.

"Here she comes!" the squad leader announced, "bring your goggles down. It looks like she's going to bring on the snow!"

The men rapidly obeyed the order as the clouds grew thicker and darker and then began to approach them. For them, they knew that the final battle was coming, and they were sure to be ready. They would not let a lone gargoyle beat them easily. They stood their ground as the wind picked up, and soon the first snowflakes began hitting them as the blizzard that had appeared grew stronger.

"Hold your fire until the optic sensors in the goggles can pinpoint her!" the squad leader commanded.

The men obeyed the order, and he heard no shots being fired. But the blizzard conditions were still blinding and tough to endure. Demona may be angry, but her skills in sorcery hadn't been weakened any. The blizzard was so strong that even the computerized pieces in their goggles couldn't make out much moving in the blizzard very well. And the wind was also tough to endure. One man, moving along the outer edge and looking for where Demona might come out of the sky to attack them, tripped on a portion of the roof and going over the side of the roof. The squad leader heard him scream, but the wind caught his parka and blew the man away from his comrades, who tried to rescue him.

"Be careful boys," the squad leader grumbled, "we don't want that to happen again. This blizzard is a thick one."

But then, almost as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The clouds cleared and the snow died away. This left them with an empty roof. The other men looked around in confusion, and it wasn't as if the squad leader wasn't stumped on that either.

"Maybe she couldn't see all that well in her own blizzard," one superman commented.

"Maybe," the squad leader answered, "she'll likely come around again."

**Fortress Entranceway and Security Check-Point**

Demona, however, had not gotten lost and overflown the fortress. She and the rest of the gargoyles in this group had approached the fort on the ground and forced open the main doors used to let vehicles go in and out of the fortress. The superman manning the check-point and in charge of opening and closing the door was caught completely by surprise and never got the chance to sound any alarm before Yoshi and Yama knocked him out. With a moment of quiet, they then moved to set up their next actions in the course of taking on Khan's supermen and getting to Khan, himself.

"Lock the doors," Demona to Yoshi, who had taken over the control panels that the guard had been using.

"Right," Yoshi nodded, and pressed a few buttons.

With that done, Demona thrust one hand into the panel, destroying the equipment. As she ripped her hand back out, a piece of the equipment was in her hand.

"There," Demona nodded, "no one can come in on the ground."

"So where will Khan be?" Shi La asked.

"Most likely near the command center and the communications areas of the base, allowing him to control his forces," Yama commented, "where that is, we'd need a map for…"

"Like this?" Wedrington asked from a different portion of the room.

They turned to see what looked like a layout for the floor they were on. Demona made her way over and quickly looked over the design. She then pointed to a room in the very center of the map that Wedrington had found.

"That is where we need to go," Demona spoke.

"The command center?" Je Lu wondered.

"No, the base's main power center," Demona answered, "someone is surely watching us on security camera images now. We destroy that and everything will go dark. Weapons… lights… computers… communications… everything. Once that is done, they won't be able to track what we are doing. THEN we go looking for Khan."

"I'd assume we're also to deal with any of his soldiers along the way?" Yama commented, "If they've already learned we didn't go into the trap that Khan set, they must be sending reinforcements down here."

"They probably are," Demona nodded, "but we do have some of their weapons and you have my skills to aid you all. We stay together; Khan can't easily overwhelm us with numbers."

"Okay then," Je Lu nodded, "lead the way. We'll follow you."

They moved quickly, down the hallway that according to the map would lead them to where the base's main power generators were. As they did so, they entered into a large room that had a large number of trucks, armored personnel carriers, and even a couple of helicopters. It was a garage and hanger for all of the vehicles in the base, and out of the corner of her eye, Demona noticed larger sets of doors that they could use to drive out. The room was not empty, however, and as they moved through, shocked cries and then shots rang out.

"Go on!" Yama called to Demona at the head of the group, "I will deal with their mechanics!"

Demona glanced back as the shots rang out and then moved as if to aid the Japanese exile. He, however, stopped her as she moved toward him. The others went on in to the main hallway that the map had specified, carrying the particle beam weapons and other firearms they had taken from their earlier raids. It wasn't something that gargoyles were commonly comfortable fighting with, and for Je Lu clan especially because they had been able to live in peace with their monks for so long that they hadn't seen 'war' before Demona came into their lives. She felt lucky to have persuaded them to use them for their own safety in this case, and figured she'd have to repay them in some way… to atone for leading the Illuminati and then Khan to them. Yama, however, was insistent that he didn't need the help.

"Go!" Yama urged as he drew a katana that Demona had earlier summoned for him, "they will need you more than me!"

Yama then moved further into the large garage area. There weren't many supermen there, and they were firing wildly from behind cover. And while they had appeared to be fearsome warriors in Khan's service, Yama guessed that rumors of an equally fearsome warrior or opponent had the same effect on them as it would on others. Their shots were aimed toward Demona, and they were doing their best not to end up on the receiving end of a lightning spell. He caught the closest as he tried to move to a better spot to fire from and to try and avoid a direct confrontation. Yama slashed through the gun that he had landed a sweeping kick that swung his body in a full three hundred sixty degree turn.

When Yama had regained his footing, he noticed that the soldier he had kicked had been sent sprawling backward. He was about to move on to the next of Khan's soldiers in the garage when a couple of bullets whizzed past his face before hitting a parked truck. One of the supermen had changed targets. Yama was about to duck and move to try and set up his next move when a particle beam flew past him and into the armored personnel carrier that the superman was firing near. The resulting explosion sent the man flying and toppled the vehicle on its side. Ignoring the 'ouch' and the sound of the man hitting something else, Yama turned to see who had come to help him. He found that it was Yoshi.

"I must do this on my own, Yoshi," Yama answered.

"You won't survive on your own," Yoshi answered, "we all know you wish to restore your honor. To atone for the mistakes you made. It is the honorable thing to do, but I am still honor bound to serve Kai and his second… your mate, Sora."

Yama looked to him.

"Saving China from these supermen will restore your honor," Yoshi told him, "It is a battle worth fighting… but Sora would kill me if I let you get yourself killed to do that… and Kai… Kai would not respond well to news of your death either."

"Very well, then," Yama sighed, "For honor."

Yoshi nodded.

**Khan's Main Command Center**

Khan, meanwhile, was overlooking some of the reports that Marilyn had managed to send to him on the status of her quest against those Illuminati members standing for elections. She had dealt with those in Korea and Japan, and was actually now making her way into the eastern most parts of Russia.

"At least one mission is still going according to how they should go," Khan gave a sigh, when his second suddenly burst into the room.

Khan turned to see that the man was fairly nervous. This surprised him, as his second in command was not normally one to get nervous.

"What is it?" Khan asked, "has the Illuminati expanded the war in some way we do not already know of?"

"No, sir, it is worse than that!" his second stated, "It is Demona! She has attacked as you predicted… but in a different place and not alone!"

"What?!" Khan gasped.

He had expected an attack, but he had expected Demona to come in on the 'red eye express' with no thought process going on other than to attack and avenge the death of her clan and allies. A change in the location of the attack, or the lack of blinding rage in her attack could be excused, as Khan only had the files the Illuminati had on Demona to go on before. And those files commonly stated that Demona had rage issues in addition to being on a campaign of genocide against the entire human race. But the files could be either incomplete, or there had been some change in her life that had changed much of her temperament. But he was certain that he had killed the rest of the gargoyles that had been with her. She shouldn't be alone.

"She must have moved their roosting place after killing Damien, sir," his second answered, "For her clan still lives."

"Where is she?" Khan demanded.

"Presently on the first floor," his second answered, "I've made calls to all our units in the fortress to move to stop her on that floor."

"Can we call for reinforcements from outside the fort?" Khan inquired.

"Our radio man is in the process of doing that now, sir," his second replied, "but I don't know how long it will take for anti-Illuminati Chinese or Tibetan units to get here."

"Blast," Khan growled, "what is she going for…? Aside from me."

"The base's main power cells, sir," his second answered, "probably to put us in the dark. Remember not everyone in the base has night vision goggles."

**The Base's Power Core**

Making it to the base's power generators was fairly easy, as they seemed to have the element of surprise still in their favor, but Demona was certain that Khan's forces were catching on. Ganging up on one or two startled men as they came out of a door wasn't going to go on forever. That was proved as they made into the main control room for the power generators. Two men were there and armed with pistols. The first fired a round that caught one of the Tibetan clan in the hip and knocked her to the ground. Demona dispatched that superman with a lighting spell that carried enough power to send him flying through one of the walls. That, however, left Demona feeling a bit drained for the moment and the other superman was trying to finish what his partner started.

The second superman was not able to get a good shot off, as he had to duck under his 'flying' companion, and his shot harmlessly hit the far wall. Wedrington and Je Lu were quick to make their move on the other guard. Wedrington charged forward and landed a flying kick that knocked the superman to the ground and made him drop his gun. He was quick to recover, but Je Lu arrived in time to land a strong double blow to his shoulders and knocking the superman out.

"So… now we turn off their power?" one of the other Tibetan gargoyles asked.

"That'd only last as long as we can keep control of this room," Demona answered, "I'll need a moment to recharge a little and then we'll blow the generators up. Then the base will be without power and no one will be able to turn it back on."

"Might help in terms of dealing with a large number of Khan's soldiers," Wedrington commented.

"How?" Shi La asked from where she was checking on the wounded Tibetan gargoyle.

"Buildings are generally built to withstand forces coming from outside them," Wedrington answered, "normally things such as wind, excessive amounts of snow and rain, hail, and if armored, human weaponry… but for the most part they aren't protected against internal damage as well. Rust… age and decay… or in this case an internal explosion."

Demona caught on quickly, doing her best to hide an approving smile. Wedrington may not be a warrior by instinct, but he was quickly adapting.

"And if we take out not just the generators but some of the supports as well, a good portion of the building will come down as well," Demona answered, "hopefully it'll take out a good portion of Khan's army that is here and give us a large central 'pathway' to move through the base in."

"We'll need to get Lee back to Yama and Yoshi in their garage," Shi La commented in response.

By now, Demona had regained her strength and was turning the supermen's clothes into packets of C-four and was preparing to go into the area where the main generators were.

"We don't want to be here when the C-four goes off anyway," Demona nodded, "We'll all move back in a moment."

Demona then took the explosive packets that she'd conjured and went into the main area where the generators were.

**Main Security Room**

Khan and his second quickly moved into the main security center of the base to confront Demona's attack on the base. It was painfully obvious that the air raid on Demona's lair had failed and she was now launching her real attack to make sure Khan couldn't correct his mistake. It was a wise decision, and it made Khan mentally kick himself for how he had handled Demona's incursion into his plan. For the most part he had ignored her as being of little real threat. His second had warned him and Marilyn had warned him that to leave Demona alive for long was to invite trouble. Now he was paying for that arrogance.

"Where is Demona now?" Khan demanded of the security officer as he entered.

Such a battle would normally be done from the main war rooms, but since the fight was already inside the base, they wouldn't do much. The security room was the best option. From there, Khan could view what Demona was up to and coordinate things with his men in the base.

"They've just left the power generators," the security officer asked, "It looked like Demona was carrying some packet in to the generators, but I didn't have enough camera angles to see what it was."

"What did she do with them?" Khan's second questioned.

"From what I could see, she left them by the generators and then left for the main garage," the security officer answered, "I've redirected two of the squads ordered to block Demona's advance to move in, secure, and investigate what Demona left. They're just now arriving."

"Left?" Khan asked.

"Yes, Demona and the gargoyles with her have returned to the garage," the security officer answered when the sound of a great explosion rocked the base.

The sound made the security officer jump, but what made matters worse, was that the blast knocked out all electrical power to the base. Some emergency lights remained on, but they would only last for a couple hours. It was long enough for repair crews to repair the generators if they had a malfunction. The situation they had though was not that. They would surely have to replace the generators, which would take much more time.

"And things just got harder," Khan grumbled as he noticed that all of the security screens were now solid black. It was as if someone turned them all off.

**Garage**

In the garage, Demona looked back down the hallway that had taken them to the main generator. The blast had done what she and Wedrington had expected. Debris had been thrown down the hallway and even knocked over a couple of the trucks that had been in the hallway.

"I doubt that that has won the war," Yama commented as he and Yoshi approached.

They had succeeded in subduing the supermen in the garage while Demona's group had gone on to the power generator. Those soldiers were now either dead or tied up using bits and pieces of the vehicles in the garage to hold them together.

"Indeed," Demona nodded, "but not all of them will have night vision goggles and the effects of the blast have probably inflicted heavy casualties on them."

"So, what now?" Yoshi asked, "We all go after Khan?"

"We defeat his forces," Demona answered, "They do not all have to be killed… but it would be best to make sure they're properly secured… or grouped together after being knocked out so a more magical solution to the problem could be used more effectively."

"I will do what I can," Yama vowed.

"I would ask that you and Yoshi remain with Shi La to guard and care for Lee," Demona commented, "I cannot guarantee that there will be no injuries, and someone will need to guard the wounded."

Yama sighed and looked to the Tibetan clan's second, who was wounded in the fight to get to the power generator, and then looked to the other Tibetan gargoyles. None of them were fully ready to engage in such a battle in his mind, but that didn't matter. Khan had turned up the heat and they wouldn't have time to train them further. Hopefully, only a small number of Khan's men had night vision goggles, which would give the gargoyles a distinct advantage in near total darkness.

"I will defeat all who threaten them," Yama answered.

Demona nodded and turned to the rest, "we must move quickly. The explosion may have taken a fair number of Khan's men out, but there are likely still plenty of them.

Back near where the power generators were, one of the main scientist supermen pulled himself out of some of the rubble. He looked up at the damage the blast had done. It wasn't as big as it potentially could have been, but when the blast had gone off, it took out all of the supports on the bottom floor around where the power generators had been. The lack of support beneath them caused most of the floors above the location to droop straight down, including the lab he had been in. It didn't go completely through the building, but judging by the sounds that drifted down to the scientist, that those floors were not entirely stable. Anything that would do further damage there would bring those floors down as well.

"She's beating us…" the superman realized and then looked down the dark hallway, seeing nothing, "She has beaten us."

There were other men that had been working with him, but so far it appeared that they had been crushed by the rubble. To make matters worse, the scientist was also fairly certain that there were a fair number of soldiers that had also been killed and crushed by the falling debris. Now, the scientist, like all the supermen, was physically strong enough to fight a gargoyle one on one, and knew enough basic self-defense to avoid being easily beaten, but he had no weapon and no capability to see in the near blackness of what the base had become.

He managed to climb out of the rubble and slowly slid down to the floor. He would need to find a flight of stairs and get to the upper floors and potentially find Khan. He would need to know what Demona had just done to their base. His fumbling around in the dark did little good, as he was caught from behind by the gargoyles. Two of them grabbed him by the arms and twisted him around so that he was facing Demona, herself. He could only see the azure gargoyle because of the light coming off of her glowing eyes.

"Who are you?" Demona questioned.

"Shieen Vortem Lingh," the scientist said nervously, "Khan's science division member."

"You run their experiments?" a different gargoyle asked.

"No, I a merely a member of the staff," Shieen answered.

"Where is Khan?" Demona questioned.

"On the upper floors, most likely," Shieen answered, "most likely near the main security rooms and the command center."

Shieen struggled a little in nervously, but was unable to break free. His answers appeared to satisfy Demona for she stepped back. But then she began to say something in Latin and raised an arm toward him. Then, Shieen felt incredibly sleepy.

"Is he dead?" a Tibetan looked down at the man.

"No, merely asleep," Demona answered, "for quite a while."

"My Latin is a bit rusty, Demona," Wedrington commented, "but how long is your spell supposed to keep him asleep?"

"Hopefully forever," Demona answered, "I'll explain once Khan is either dead or in a similar sleep."

**The Command Center**

Khan managed to find the main command center and found it in much the same condition as the security center. It was totally dark and without power. He was only able to find it based on memory and touch to find the door. He privately wondered why the Illuminati hadn't engineered the supermen to have better senses in the sense of night-vision in addition to their strength, endurance, and obviously genius.

His second was presently searching for some way to get in touch the men under his command. So far, nothing had worked. Without power, the intercom was down and so were all the other means of communication. That left Khan searching for something that would work and his own stash of weapons. He eventually found a small crate containing particle beam pistols, and took a couple of them, but he could find no night-vision goggles.

"Sir?" came his second's voice after a few moments, "you in here?"

"Yes, have you had any luck in contacting anyone?" Khan asked.

"I found a set of walkie-talkie units that our individual units carry in the field," his second answered, "they run on batteries and have managed to communicate with those that have them."

"And?" Khan asked.

"At least half of our combat troops are either dead, wounded, or taken prisoner by Demona," his second answered, "though with all our other systems down, I haven't been able to confirm this."

Khan could only sigh as he soon felt a hand glance off of his shoulder as his second was trying to find him.

"I also managed to find you a spare pair of night-vision goggles," his second reported, "just to keep things in line."

"Thank you," Khan answered, "here's hoping we can hold out."

**The Garage**

"Yaaarrrrrrrrrrgh!" Yama roared as he brought his katana down and cleaving a superman commando in two.

Demona and the others had left to find Khan about five minutes ago, and so far things had been mostly quiet. It was only at the end of these five minutes that five commandos had come down from a different staircase, and were wearing night-vision goggles. Yoshi managed to pin them down with cover fire while Yama dealt with them at close quarters. The supermen, apparently used to modern warfare, thought Yoshi's shots to be the bigger threat and left themselves open to attack by Yama with his katana, a sword, and a weapon the armies of the world now only considered ceremonial.

"This could make things tough," Yoshi commented after Yama returned from dispatching the last of the supermen commandos.

"We will endure," Yama answered, "Shi La and Lee are safe. That is all that matters."

"And if they overwhelm us?" Yoshi asked.

"We resist as long as we can and give Demona the chance to win the battle," Yama replied, "and die with honor."

Yoshi only sighed and looked to the passageway that Demona had gone down. He hoped it wouldn't come to that. He had promised Kai and Sora that he would return Yama to them. While dying with honor for an honorable cause was something that was at the very heart of bushido, many of those principles had gone away. Yoshi knew that. Too much of it had been used to justify Japan's imperialist wars in the early to mid-twentieth century, and only the explosions of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki had stopped that. Yoshi agreed with those changes, and he couldn't bring himself to accept the line of thought that would not return Yama to Ishimura as a good thing.

"Hopefully it does not come to that," Yoshi said silently to himself.

**With Demona's Group**

The loss of power had brought about some good results and some bad ones. The lack of power gave the gargoyles a great advantage in terms of being able to see where they were going. The enclosed nature of the base, however, prevented them from using their wings, even with a large portion of the center of the base hollowed out. It ultimately left them spreading out to make sure every hallway was covered. Demona also gave the others instructions to make their way back to Yama and Yoshi if one of their group members was wounded. And the groups were thankfully large enough that if one was wounded, they could be taken to safety and the team could return to the overall mission.

"Do you think this will work out well?" Wedrington asked as they walked along.

"To be honest, no," Demona sighed, "I'd hope the ventilation system would provide enough of an airflow to glide in the center area that we 'hollowed out' but it doesn't we're having to take the long way."

"We're catching more of them this way," Wedrington commented as he checked a door they hadn't opened yet.

He was kicked back in surprise as the superman behind the door kicked him in the chest.

"I may not see you, but I can still hear you!" the man spoke firmly.

Shi La managed to slide forward and grab one of the man's arms and sling him into the hall as the man gestured after making his comment. She, along with Je Lu, was part of the team that was directly with Demona. Je Lu tripped him as he stumbled into the hallway. The man landed at Demona's feet. Demona merely kicked the man and sent him flying down the hall, where he finally landed unconscious.

"Yes… but the ones that have easy to catch have been unarmed or those without night-vision goggles," Demona replied, "Not exactly hard ones to take down. I'd feel more comfortable if some of the ones we've defeated were some of their main combat units."

Demona was unable to continue as the sound laser fire echoed elsewhere in the base and fairly nearby.

"And the fact that we don't know for sure how the others are doing as they move through the fortress only makes this worse," Demona then sighed.

"Remember, you're the one who felt this was necessary," Wedrington warned her.

"I do," Demona sighed again, "That doesn't mean I have to LIKE it."

Khan, also, wasn't too terribly fond of the situation he found his forces in. He had no electrical power and no means of contacting the rest of his army. In pure theory this might ultimately lead to reinforcements coming when his subordinate commands didn't receive instructions from him, BUT that would take a while, and given the amount of firing that he heard going on, he doubted very much they would arrive in time to save the base from Demona and the gargoyles she'd brought with her.

Given the surprise that Demona had gained in her initial attack, Khan was certain that she would come for him, and was rapidly moving things in his command area to wait for Demona's arrival. He had some night-vision goggles, a cache of weapons, and a battery powered walkie-talkie to keep him in contact with his second in command who was somewhere else in the base, trying hard to make sure that his supermen put up some fight.

"Sir, are you there?" came his second's voice.

"Yes, what is it?" Khan asked back into the walkie-talkie.

"More bad news, I'm afraid," Khan's second replied, "They appear to be everywhere in the base, sir. Like they've spread out."

"We could overpower some of their units and pick them apart, piece by piece!" Khan exclaimed, getting some hope for victory.

"Maybe, but it gets worse, sir," Khan's second answered, "They're armed and armed with our own weapons. Picking them off…"

The sounds of laser fire soon cut off his second's rely. Khan was about to call to him, but there was then the sound of something blunt striking something made of flesh and then the like went static. One of Demona's teams had caught his second… or killed him. Khan placed his walkie-talkie down and waited for the inevitable.

Yoshi looked on nervously as an ever increasing number of wounded and prisoners came back to where he was waiting with Yama. Khan's supermen did continue to make their way into the garage area trying to navigate the fortress in the darkness. Thankfully, the latest didn't have night vision goggles and he and Yama were able to ambush them. The bigger worry was the wounded that came back with some of the teams that Demona had sent to move through the base. Thankfully, none of the Tibetan gargoyles had been killed yet, but at the same time, some of the wounded appeared to be seriously hurt. They might make it to sunrise, but Yoshi didn't want to chance it.

"This one appears to be a medicine truck!" Yama called to him as they'd begun to search the vehicles that were all parked in the garage.

"Is it fully stocked?" Yoshi asked as he quickly made his way to where his clan brother was.

"I hadn't gotten that far yet," Yama answered, "Hold on…"

Yoshi arrived in time to see Yama pull the door to a side-panel off of the vehicle to reveal medical supplies sitting inside the compartment.

"It is," Yama then finished.

Yoshi rushed forward and began to look over the supplies that would be needed to perform at least basic first aid and whatever would be needed to allow the wounded to holdout until daybreak.

"Get all the bandages, antibiotics, hydrogen peroxide, and so forth," Yoshi ordered, "the wounded will need them."

Yama was quick to follow Yoshi's order. The wounded that had been brought back looked like they had endured a lot just getting away from the fighting. To some extent, it pained him that he couldn't be there to help them and make sure they wouldn't face as much of the danger as they were presently facing, but at least, he figured, that they were also beating Khan's forces as well. The fact that Khan was losing was some consolation.

That feeling, however, soon ended as he and Yoshi began to head back toward where the wounded and the unconscious prisoners were. They heard the sound of conversation, but what was the frightening thing was the sound of the cocking of a gun. Another group of Khan's supermen had made their way down and had stumbled onto the wounded gargoyles.

"You're sure it's them?" one voice said.

"It has to be," another said, "what I tripped on wasn't an arm or a leg."

"Where is it?" the first asked.

"I don't know, yet," the second replied, "keep your shirt on!"

Yama set the supplies he had on the hood of a truck near him and rushed forward. He found two men on the edge of where the wounded gargoyles were. They had all gone quiet as they realized that the two supermen hadn't seen them or fully noticed where the Tibetans were. Drawing his weapon, Yama was not about to let the wounded gargoyles under his protection come to any harm. With a roar, he lunged forward and leaped into the air.

"There's one!" the second shouted, "I heard it!"

The first turned in the general direction, but still didn't see anything. He fired two shots from his gun, a normal handgun, sending bullets into the darkness. Yama heard them ricochet off of something behind him, but he wasn't about to stay still and figure out what. He brought his katana down in a firm swing and amputated the superman's arm at the elbow, letting the forearm, hand, and gun fall harmlessly to the floor. Yama then whirled a sweeping motion that delivered a kick that sent the first superman flying into his partner.

"You will not harm them!" Yama said firmly and waited for the supermen to prepare to attack him again.

The second man panicked completely and tried to flee while the first began to look for his gun. The second man didn't get far when he ran into a parked armored personnel carrier and then had Yoshi tackle him from behind, knocking him out. Yama finished off the first superman by grabbing him by the shoulders and then body slamming him back to the floor. The move almost looked like something out of a Judo tournament, but not quite. Once both supermen were unconscious, Yama looked up to make sure none of the injured and wounded Tibetan gargoyles were harmed further. They weren't, and they looked to him with some level of support.

"Thank you, Yama," one spoke, "I'm sure your honor should be restored for all you've done to protect us here."

"Perhaps," Yama answered, "we will need to survive this first."

Meanwhile, Demona's group continued to make decent progress toward where they figured Khan's command center would be. The sounds of battle continued to echo, but so far, that seemed to be quieting down. This meant that either the Tibetan gargoyles were now mopping up the remains of Khan's forces, or Khan's forces were wiping out the Tibetans and her group was all that remained. For the moment, Demona had no time to worry about that. Khan had to be defeated first.

They came to a large door that was shut completely. Based off of some guide maps they had come across along the way, they figured that it would have to be Khan's main center of power in the base… where he commanded his armies and followers from.

"And now to end this war," Demona said firmly and prepared to kick it in, only to have it explode in her face, and throwing all four gargoyles back.

She grunted in pain and slowly climbed to her feet only to have a non-projectile burst fly through her right wing. It thankfully missed the wing bones, but the membrane between them was badly torn up, and Demona roared with pain, trying to recover from the attack. She dove to one of the walls around the door frame while Wedrington, Je Lu, and Shi La dove for the other. She glanced to them to see that they were just as covered in splinters from the door as she was.

"You'll have to do that!" came a man's voice from inside the room, obviously Khan.

"You'll pay for what you've done here!" Demona answered back.

"Please, Demona, don't go all noble on me," Khan answered back and fired again, making sure Demona couldn't lean into the doorway, "we both know that you're just like me. Desiring global conquest to suit a particular political vision… but while you merely wished gargoyle rule and humanity's extinction… I have plans! Plans that will work!"

"Plans that involve driving gargoyles from their homes and starting a war that will surely kill more?" Demona questioned back, "You think I would stand by and let you do that?"

Demona then glanced to Wedrington and then continued.

"And besides, the data you have on me is no longer accurate," Demona answered, "I no longer wish humanity's destruction. I merely wish them to leave gargoyles alone!"

"Oh… and what might have caused that change of heart?" Khan taunted.

Demona glanced to Wedrington again.

"None of your business," she thought to herself, and then stuck one hand into the room and cast a small spell.

The spell generated a brilliant flash of light that operated like a flash grenade. It was more to disorient the target rather than do physical harm. The light was as bright as any bright sunlight, but in the enclosed space of the office, it was blinding. Wearing the night vision goggles, Khan was blinded by it and tore them off in response. He also groaned as he tried to clear his vision. The light in the room returned to pitch blackness before Khan's vision cleared from suddenly being blinded.

Demona then rushed into the room with a roar and lunged over the desk to tackle the disoriented Khan. The superman leader was still too 'out of it' to resist and Demona threw him against a wall before he could respond. The result of the move left him with no weapon and with Demona between him and his cache of weapons.

"That was cheating," Khan commented as he got up, looking around nervously as now without his night vision goggles, he couldn't see.

"No different than you using your supermen to attack a clan of gargoyles that was no threat to you," Demona answered and stood her ground, "no different than you using bits of my past against me when that past no longer matters."

Khan responded to the sound and charged Demona. To her surprise, he caught her around the waist and drove her back into the desk. She gave a pained grunt as the edge of the desk her spine.

"I'm sure those you've wronged feel otherwise," Khan answered.

He then delivered a crossing punch that knocked Demona's tiara off of her head. Khan was about to throw another blind punch when another gargoyle tackled him. He sound found himself staring into Wedrington's glowing white eyes.

"You will not harm her!" Wedrington growled and then kneed Khan in the gut.

The blow sent Khan staggering back as Wedrington didn't fully hold his grip on the superman leader. Khan tried to recover, but was hit in the chest by a lightening spell which threw him against a wall and knocked him out.

"I had him," Demona answered.

"I'm sure," Wedrington nodded, "I just wished to help you…"

Demona was quiet for a moment and then sighed. It had been so long since she had been in any real relationship with anyone. On some level the last real lover she had had was Goliath. She had been using the original Thailog as part of her own schemes to one-up Goliath and then clung to him because Thailog behaved in a way she expected from a 'true' gargoyle. But Thailog betrayed her and made it clear that he was using her and thought of her less then she had truly thought of him.

Her relationship with Wedrington was essentially starting things over, and the fact that he was a transformed human would probably add its own complications. Gargoyle instincts weren't entirely identical to human instincts.

"I know," Demona nodded with a sigh, "we should check on the others… and take Khan to them."

Wedrington nodded as Je Lu and Shi La came in to help remove Khan's unconscious form.

**Garage, Later**

Demona returned to the garage to find it filled with captured supermen. All were tied up and some were still unconscious as Je Lu tossed Khan's unconscious form with them. They were also quick to notice the wounded Tibetan gargoyles being looked after by Yama and Yoshi. The other Tibetan teams were also doing their best to help, though a few came to make their reports to Demona and Je Lu.

"We've got them all," a male, named Han Di, reported, "I regret that some others of Khan's supermen were killed in the fighting…"

"That is unavoidable in these situations," Demona told him, "sadly."

"Did Khan's supermen kill anyone?" Je Lu asked.

"Thanks to Yama and Yoshi, know," Han Di answered, "Yama, apparently fought bravely against a great number of foes to protect those that had been injured."

"That is good," Shi La replied, "very good."

"Yes," Wedrington agreed, "in the meantime, what will we do with Khan and the others? We can't just leave them… and I wouldn't think that executing them as they are is right."

Demona looked over to the large numbers of supermen that they had captured. They couldn't execute them, and it was also likely that they couldn't hold Khan's base forever. Someone would eventually retake it, and they didn't have some hidden prison to send them to, outside of the Illuminati, but Demona would never consider partnering with them.

"There is only one thing that might work," Demona commented, "if we make sure that our wounded are clearly separated from them."

"Magic?" Wedrington asked.

"The Grimorum contained a spell the Magus used to put my clan to sleep after the castle was sacked by the Vikings," Demona answered, "And Merlin supposedly used an enchanted sleep to keep Arthur alive for years on Avalon. The only other possible option would be some form of cryogenics, which to my knowledge aren't advanced enough to safely preserve them… and even if the technology was there, we don't have it, and even if we did, we'd still need to guard it."

"Will it work?" Wedrington wondered as the others began making sure that the wounded were not in a position where they could be hurt.

"It will hold them until a more suitable punishment can be procured," Demona answered.

"We're ready," Han Di reported to her.

Demona then focused firmly on the supermen prisoners, including Khan. Most were still unconscious, and those that were awake were firmly restrained firmly. She stepped toward them and raised her arms to begin the spell. The spell was done in Latin and followed the traditional imperative order that European magic was based on.

"Sleep in suspension until light stands still," Demona commanded and a strong green glow surrounded her fists as the spell began to be cast.

Once cast, all of the supermen were in a sound and deep sleep.

"There," Demona sighed, "nothing will wake them until light stands still."

"Which is impossible," Wedrington commented, "Light is always moving."

Demona nodded.

**The End…**

**Epilogue…**

**Far into the Future… Exact Year Unknown**

Khan awoke to find himself in a strange medical center. He was greeted by a human male in a blue uniform checking on him and most of the other supermen.

"Where… where am I?" Khan asked.

"In sick-bay," the man in the uniform answered him as he approached.

Khan noticed a strange spear/arrow head like insignia on the man's chest, but couldn't recognize it.

"We found your ship adrift and all of you in some sort of suspended animation," the man continued, "its life support was failing so we brought you aboard."

"To save me?" Khan inquired.

"Partially, but also to investigate," the man answered, "Your ship carried some Earth insignias from several centuries ago… unfortunately we can't access any more information on you until we can get your name and where you were headed. The computers on your ship are not compatible with the main computers here on the Enterprise."

"And where is… the Enterprise headed?" Khan asked as some of his followers began to revive.

"Right now to a Federation star-base," the man answered, "We're doing Warp 4 right now to get there and should arrive within a few hours."

"I see," Khan answered.

"If you'll excuse me, the Captain will want to know you're awake," the man in the uniform spoke.

He then walked off. Khan was then approached by his second in command.

"What do you make of that?" Khan asked him quietly.

"I'm not sure," his second replied, "I was conscious when Demona cast her spell… she said, in Latin, that we were to sleep until light stood still."

"Does light stand still?" Khan inquired.

"Not technically," his second answered, "BUT to anything travelling at the speed of light or faster, it would seem to be standing still because at that speed time is technically meaningless… as time itself only moves at the speed of light."

"So… this 'warp' must be a speed reference to the speed of light," Khan mused.

"Yes," his second nodded, "so what do we do?"

"We take over this ship," Khan answered, "and figure out a way to return to Earth. We have a score to settle with Demona…"


	23. You Are My Redemption…

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place immediately after "Sleep".

"You Are My Redemption…"

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary 

**Ishimura, Japan**

The former medieval Japanese warrior, Usagi, sat quietly in the town's small police station. Merlin had been correct that the Ishimuran clan would help him. In fact Usagi had found that he got help from more than just the clan. At present he was working as a sort of apprentice with the small village's police department. It wasn't much, but it would allow him to acclimate to life in the twenty first century. Some things weren't all that interesting, as modern policemen apparently filled out as much paperwork as they patrolled the cities to stop or investigate criminals.

"You've done remarkably well, Usagi," one of the local officers commented as he came out of one of the offices, "your dialect is still a little out of date, but you've progressed very well."

"Thank you, Officer Saito," Usagi answered, "your village's gargoyles have been very helpful."

"Ishimura isn't my city," Officer Saito answered, "I help protect it, but I don't own or run it… and I lack the skill to be a politician."

Usagi sat quietly and processed what he had been told. This had to be a sign of how things had changed from the late 1200s to the present. In his time, men like Officer Saito would hold positions of power for their skill in either protecting their lands from foreign invaders as the Mongols had been or from criminals from within their borders.

"You are a good man," Usagi answered, "I would vote for you."

"Oh, don't start anything!" Officer Saito protested in a half joking tone.

Usagi was unable to answer as a new voice came from the bathroom.

"Don't worry, he won't!" came Marilyn's voice, as she opened the door to the men's bathroom and threw a dagger that caught Officer Saito in the chest.

The blade went deep and sent the modern police officer staggering back. Usagi was quick to check on him, but found that the blade had done its job. Saito was dead. He looked up to see the attacking woman, standing quietly in what looked like ultra-modern black commando gear. His accusation was based entirely on the group that Usagi knew of that dressed somewhat like that in his own time.

"Vile ninja," Usagi growled, "he didn't deserve that!"

"Of course," Marilyn nodded as she approached him and moved around the counter to face Usagi directly, "but leaving him alive would only interfere with the reason I am here."

Usagi looked up with a great deal of anger on his face. He was then perplexed, however, as the woman looked somewhat like Merlin.

"Who are you?" Usagi demanded.

"I am Marilyn," Marilyn replied, "aide and sorceress to Khan, and tasked to eliminate the Illuminati society and those that would defend them."

"I do not serve them," Usagi growled and lunged forward to deliver a punch to the woman that had just murdered the officer he had been talking with.

To his surprise, the woman caught his punch and smiled.

"My… how 'honorable' of you to try and strike a woman," Marilyn taunted and then gripped Usagi's hand with both of hers and then threw him against the wall near where she had entered the room, "Now, what is this of you NOT serving the Illuminati? The man I killed in Sapporo said that you their servant. Preserved through time to serve them."

"That priest," Usagi coughed slowly from where he landed, "awakened me from my enchanted sleep for that purpose, yes, but I did not serve and do not serve him."

Marilyn came close to look at him closely, "Oh… prove it, please. Serve me and serve Khan in taking down the Illuminati…"

"You serve that madman in China!" Usagi declared.

Marilyn smiled.

"I will not serve a madman who start's wars!" Usagi answered, "I will not dishonor myself…"

"You already have by trying to strike me," Marilyn taunted.

Usagi took her overconfidence to his advantage and swung his body to take her feet out from under her. Marilyn landed roughly on her rear while Usagi got up.

"I would call it justice," Usagi replied, "You murdered a man helping me acclimate to this time in cold blood. And so far, it is clear that you are not some weakling. Perhaps you are some deviant man that decided to undergo surgery."

Marilyn frowned and gave a frustrated growl. Apparently this medieval Japanese warrior had learned much since he had awakened. She hoped that he hadn't learned much about modern technology, and pulled a grenade from a pocket of the commando uniform she was wearing. The pin was pulled as she pulled it from her pocket and then tossed it to Usagi. She then disappeared in a flash of green light.

Marilyn reappeared on a rooftop across the street to see an explosion rock the small police station in Ishimura. The smoke and sound soon attracted at least two gargoyles. However, Marilyn could see that the Japanese gargoyles couldn't see her.

"And so the Far East is clear of Illuminati leadership," Marilyn smiled, "those that remain don't even have the clearance to warn the big boys that there is an assassin hunting the big boys."

With that, Marilyn walked away. She'd need to find another mirror to continue on her way, but that would be easy.

**Tibet, Outside Khan's Headquarters**

Outside the former Illuminati base that Khan had taken over and had run his war from, a small group of men had gathered outside the doors. Above them they knew the sun had long since risen, as they had seen the sunrise from the capital of Tibet. They had tried to contact Khan, as per the standard method for the day to see what the plan was for it, but they got no signal from Khan's radio. It was as if the system had been knocked out by something, and so they had drove up to the fortress to conduct the meeting. However, as they came up on the region, they found dense fog and even snow obscuring their vision. It forced them to slow down to make it to the fortress, and now they found that quiet.

"This is the Lhasa delegation!" the leader of the group called out, "It is time for the daily update on the situation in the war and how soon Tibet might be independent! Please let us in!"

There was no answer. The door didn't open, neither did anything else happen. The leader turned to his comrades, who only shrugged.

"Something has happened," the leader spoke to the others, "something happened during the night."

"What shall we do then? Knock the door down?" one of the others answered, "We'd need to go back to Lhasa to get our men and bring them back. It'd be nearly sundown by the time that happens. If something has happened, speed is of the essence."

"It won't be as if we have a choice," the leader of the group answered, "We'll go back for some of our free Tibet volunteers and we'll move in. If Khan is fine, we'll send a report to his soldiers. If Khan is not fine, we'll try to keep moving forward and free Tibet."

"Wouldn't Khan expect us to contact his men first?" a different man wondered.

"Maybe, but Khan has also come up with excuses to keep us tied to China," the leader answered, "If he is incapable of leading, we can finally free our people and restore our independence. It's why we backed Khan in the first place."

The others slowly nodded and began to move back to their vehicles.

"Now, here's hoping we can make it down the mountain with ease," the Tibetan leader then said nervously.

Their vehicles then slowly managed to turn around and slowly head back down the mountain. They ultimately arrived in the city of Lhasa, Tibet's capital, a few hours later. Again the sun shone brightly down them, but much of the day had passed. They made their way to a small base near the administrative building that the Chinese had once used. It served as the headquarters of the 'Free Tibet' army. Their forces had joined Khan's and the anti-Illuminati Chinese forces in the war against the pro-Illuminati Chinese, but they were small and were largely kept as reserves to the other forces. Most of them, at present were not even in Tibet.

"Ministers…" the present officer manning the front desk spoke in surprise as the leader of the Tibetan delegation spoke in surprise as he stood up and saluted.

"We need to speak with General Lao," the leader spoke, "there is an apparent situation at Khan's headquarters and a potential opportunity for us to secure our freedom and independence."

"I'll get him sir, do you wish to discuss in the conference room?" the officer asked.

The members of the delegation nodded. They then made their way up a flight of stairs and to a long office room dominated by a long desk. The building had been used by the Chinese army before Khan's war, and now Tibet was making use of it to build their fledgling army. After a few moments, a lone young man, who wouldn't normally carry the appearance of a soldier came in.

"You wished to speak with me?" the man, General Lao, spoke.

"Yes," the leader of the Tibetan delegation nodded, "there is a situation at Khan's base…"

"I had wondered… I got no answer on the radio when I tried to report in that all was calm in Lhasa," General Lao commented, "You don't suppose this is an Illuminati attack, do you?"

"We don't know," a different delegation member spoke, "We went up there to have our own daily meeting to see what progress has been made to secure Tibet's independence… but there was no response. Not even a sentry."

"As such, we believe something has happened, but we need to investigate what it is," the leader spoke, "If it is Illuminati related, we can then contact Khan's forces… and if he's only had some tremendous accident…"

"We can move forward to independence and freedom," General Lao finished, "could you get in in any way?"

"No general," a third member of the delegation spoke, "the doors are locked and no one is on the roof… at least anyone alive, anyway."

General Lao sighed and began to pace. After a few moments he looked to the delegation, "I can get one squad up and ready with ropes and grappling hooks and we can climb up to the top of the fort and go in that way… but it'll be close to dusk before we're even ready to leave Lhasa. Some of Khan's other forces might notice the lack of instruction."

"With as big of a war as he's run, I'd wager most might expect him to dealing with crises at the moment and that their orders are unchanged," the delegation leader responded, "and besides, if there is any major disruption, they'll contact you or our offices as a check in. If anything happens in that direction, we would get some hint at it…"

**Khan's Base, Dusk**

The inside of the base was as silent as a tomb as Khan and his followers that hadn't been killed in the previous night's battle slept peacefully on, as Demona's spell commanded, and the gargoyles slept through the day in stone. However, while the sleeping gargoyles couldn't see the sun sink below the western horizon, they could feel it. The 'tomb' that Khan's base had become lost its silence as stone cracked and the gargoyles all began to wake up for the night.

"It's a shame we had to knock out ALL of their power," Wedrington commented after a few moments and stretching out his wings briefly, "keeping the eyes at full glow is a bit of a strain…"

The gargoyles could all see, but it was only by keeping their eyes at a full glow which created some light for them to see by. With power off to the base, this was the only way they could see without destroying the base entirely to give them access to the night and the moon.

"We'll leave here soon," Shi La said in a consoling voice, "Demona's put Khan and his men to sleep with her magic, he is no threat."

"But Khan wasn't alone," Yoshi commented, "He had to have an awful lot of support to run this place and win a land war in China."

Demona stood quietly listening to this as they had gone back and forth. Her personal goal had been to avenge the destruction of the monastery that the Tibetan clan had lived in, but Yoshi's comment had made her think. She had avenged the monastery's destruction, but that 'vengeance' wouldn't secure the safety of the Tibetan clan. Khan's followers could easily return and make things miserable and things would get worse. In her past, she would have come to a rapid conclusion to solve the problem. She would have vowed to take over and rule, making sure the humans would be too scared to do anything.

But, as she recalled these solutions, Demona knew that she had changed. She could remember that her efforts in the past to accomplish this had met with failure, and commonly dead gargoyles. She looked to Wedrington with full knowledge that he was the reason she had changed. He had been there, talked and listened to her, and while he also gave his own judgment on her actions, he had remained. At first, she felt only respect for what she'd guessed to be bravery for his remaining with her and even vowing to protect her. But in time, things changed. It was as if Goliath's dream of humans and gargoyles working together would work and she was living it, even though that like Elisa Maza, Wedrington was no longer human.

He had become a gargoyle, thanks to Thailog's sorceress, and continued to protect her. And as he did his best to be a good protector and even guide her along, Demona found herself more and more attracted to him. That finished the changes in her. Destroying humanity would never be a solution, not while Wedrington lived.

"We may need to stabilize China, then," Demona finally spoke.

"Stabilize China?" Yama asked suspiciously.

"Yes," Demona answered, "Give some proof that Khan had plans that countered whatever he promised to the local Tibetans and the anti-Illuminati Chinese."

"Can you power their software?" Yoshi then asked, "With your magic? Given all the computers, it's doubtful that Khan had paper copies of his plans."

Demona nodded as Wedrington slowly approached her. The Tibetans looked on as the white lion-like gargoyle approached the sky blue Scottish female gargoyle.

"This will mean greater interaction with humans," Wedrington warned, "humans that will not see you as a friend at first. Anything that you say that might betray the hardships you've endured will not be taken well, and might even be seen as aggression."

Demona could only manage a half grumble, but strangely admitted that Wedrington had a point. She then nodded and placed on hand on his shoulder.

"So long as you are with me, we'll be fine," Demona said to him.

Wedrington gave an encouraging smile. Demona then moved to establish what to do next, since Je Lu and Shi La had seemed to defer to her with regard to the fight against Khan.

"We'll need to expect someone to come here tonight," Demona spoke, "none of Khan's men have heard from him today and may have already sent representatives… or made some inquiry. Je Lu, I'll need you and your clan to do the bulk of this work. If they are friendly… or at least not openly hostile… try to negotiate with them and persuade them that Khan was deceiving them…"

"And if they are aggressive?" Je Lu asked.

"Then retreat and get to me," Demona answered, "we'll then find some way to get out and get away… and we'll do it together."

Je Lu looked to Shi La and nodded. Demona also turned to Yama.

"Yama, I would ask you to be our scout," Demona spoke, "Glide over the road down and see if anyone is coming. You'll need to work with Shi La and Je Lu."

Yama nodded. Demona then turned to Yoshi, who had moved to stand near Wedrington. The Japanese librarian gargoyle looked slightly nervous, but seemed to also know what the mission that he would be assigned to.

"The rest of us will be working to get what Khan's plans were," Demona spoke, "We'll need to go through computers and particularly those in Khan's office and other offices in his command area. There, we'll need to find proof that Khan had no intention of freeing China or Tibet… now, let's go!"

The movement carry out the plan was rapid and hurried. Demona and Wedrington found themselves at the rear. As they went, Wedrington was hit by a bit of curiosity.

"Do you think this will work?" Wedrington asked quietly.

"If what I saw when that Illuminati scientist tried to use time travel is accurate, I know we will," Demona whispered.

"What did you see?" Wedrington whispered to her again.

"Our future," Demona whispered back, "which for you and I is very good."

"It is?" Wedrington asked.

Demona didn't want to say this out loud, but she got the feeling that she'd had to. It wouldn't be fair to him to not know their future when she did.

"Their vortex took me to 2009, close to the spring equinox," Demona said quietly and slowly, "and I was pregnant with your egg."

"You and I…" Wedrington blurted, "As husband and wife?"

"Mates, in gargoyle terminology, but yes," Demona answered, "You've done a lot for me Wedrington… in ways that not even Angela could have."

"What I've done has been to help you get over your pain," Wedrington said slowly, regaining some of his composure.

"That's putting it rather mildly," Demona commented, "but you've more than succeeded. And you've more than proved yourself a warrior. You're taking on Khan to protect me, when you didn't have to, proved that. And you've given me honest company, something that I haven't had since before the fall of Castle Wyvern… before… before my mistakes."

"Thank you," Wedrington said weakly.

"You are my redemption," Demona said to him.

"If you two are done flirting we have work to do," Yoshi called back to them.

Demona grumbled a low growl while Wedrington blushed and the two moved to catch up.

**Hotel Cabal, New York City**

Duval sat nervously in his office. The Illuminati was supposed to be electing a new council to coordinate global affairs. Having Russia, North Korea, Vietnam, India, and Nepal attack China to oust Khan was the way to do so, as it would force Khan onto the defensive, but that could only be coordinated if the Illuminati had its Council and members in high office to run the expanding war effort all the more possible. And thanks to Khan's earlier actions, the Illuminati had no Council and thanks to events going on now, the Illuminati was losing men in positions that would know anything about what the Society actually did, or had the power to affect policy.

They'd been trying to hold elections within the Illuminati society to establish a new Council, but the process was slow going. Some of it was due to intense campaigning within the Illuminati for the six Council seats. Duval was up for the fifth seat, and faced decent competition from three other candidates for the same seat. The partisanship among members was something that even they couldn't remove. Duval found his service attacked and the facts that his promotion had been based off the failure of other agents to control Manhattan and the gargoyles that had taken up residence there.

The partisanship, however, wasn't the only thing that was slowing down the election. Large numbers of the Illuminati leadership were turning up dead. Sometimes they were found alone and killed by physical means or some that were even rather inventive, and sometimes they were found killed in what could only be termed as a terrorist act that killed more than just the Illuminati target. Duval was certain Khan had to have something to do with this, but beyond tightening local security, he couldn't do much. Warning the other Illuminati offices was a job for the Council, not for a candidate. And while the election went on, each office would act as a semi independent agency within the Illuminati.

"It's an awful mess," Duval thought to himself as he looked at an online news page reporting a series of assassinations in Japan, including one in Ishimura that killed one officer of the law there and a trainee, "and beyond making suggestions… there's nothing that can be done. The members can't leave their offices and locales without giving up the election process and we can't bring in the lower ranking members in on the big things… or things would get out of control."

Duval then slammed his fists down on the desk in frustration, which made his keyboard jump under the impact. It also made a noise loud enough to bring his secretary into the room looking rather startled.

"Sir is something wrong?" the secretary asked.

Duval looked up and sighed heavily at the nervous woman. She didn't serve that high a role, but due to the needs for secretarial posts, she had the clearance to have access to facilities like the Hotel Cabal. Whoever this assassin was, Duval was certain his secretary would be targeted because of her clearance, which would mean he would have to expect a major attack.

"Just responding to the news online, madam," Duval said politely, "and I'm afraid it is not good news."

"Should we call in additional security?" his secretary asked.

"Have some commandos on duty in the area and in disguise," Duval answered, "if this assassin finds them, it'll end up a public murder case and the gargoyles will deal with the threat for us, even if they don't know it."

"At once, sir," the secretary answered.

"In the meantime, send a few of the higher staff members on a vacation for a month or so," Duval sighed, "tell them to cast their votes for me with me and I will take on their workload. If somehow this assassin kills me, we cannot be predictable and have our members be where they can be found."

"Of course," the secretary answered.

**Tibet**

Yama glided quietly, and despite the blizzard and fog, he managed keep his eyes focused on the road below him. He had to glide low to see clearly, but he doubted any human eyes would be able to see him well in the weather. As he did so, he noticed an army truck headed up the mountain with a more civilian motorcade following. Their progress was slow, but they still made progress. It puzzled him slightly, as he expected any attack to be solely military, but it seemed as though the people coming would also include politicians. He immediately banked away to make his way to the base to report this to Je Lu. Yama hoped the Tibetan leader could convince the politicians to have the soldiers hold their fire.

He arrived at the base to find Je Lu and Shi La and their clan quietly waiting.

"Is something or someone coming?" Je Lu asked.

"One army truck and a couple of politicians' cars, I would assume," Yama informed him, "You may have some negotiating to do with these people."

"You think they'd listen?" Shi La wondered.

"Why would politicians accompany soldiers investigating a base that they have not heard news from over the course of a day?" Yama replied.

"You'd best be ready, in case their soldiers decide to shoot," Je Lu spoke.

The sound of vehicle engines began to approach the base. One of the other Tibetan gargoyles nearby looked over the edge of the wall where headlights could now be seen approaching in the distance.

"I'll go warn Demona," that gargoyle spoke.

Je Lu and Shi La nodded and waited patiently at a point on the wall where they expected the soldiers to try and make their entrance.

Below them, the delegation approached the truck as the troops inside it began to disembark. General Lao did not come with them, as he was busy dealing with some calls that did come into his office from elsewhere in China. Khan's forces did want to know what was going on, but they all called the local base for answers. They also called the delegation's offices as well. Both the military and civilian groups asking questions all got the same lie for the moment. Something had short-circuited all of Khan's long distance communications and that he could only talk with Lhasa directly. The situation was 'in hand' but would take some time to repair. All orders are unchanged, and if anything new has come up, proceed at your own discretion.

"We'll go in first and secure the walls and investigate things," the leading soldier reported to the delegation leader, "If safe, we'll either haul you up, or make our way to where we can open the doors. Whichever you prefer."

"We prefer to walk in," a delegation member spoke up.

The delegation leader nodded in agreement. The leading soldier then shrugged and moved to get all the grappling hooks ready to climb up onto the roof of the fort. They were about to launch them when a voice called down out of the fog.

"Hello, are you for or against the Illuminati?" a male voice called down.

The delegation leader looked up to see the blizzard and fog was losing its strength. He could make a figure in the dark, but it was little more than a dark outline in the night.

"Against the Illuminati, and looking for a free Tibet!" the delegation leader answered, "who are you? You do not sound like one of Khan's troops."

"We are not Khan's, that is true, but there is something you must know about Khan," the voice answered.

The delegation leader turned to the soldiers who had switched to their rifles. He motioned for them to stand down. There were times when Khan seemed like a mystery and at times the man took steps that seemed to block their attempts to free their people from Chinese rule.

"And what is this secret?" the delegation leader asked.

"You seek to free Tibet, correct?"

"Of course," the delegation leader answered.

"That was never Khan's goal," the voice stated, "he wouldn't free Tibet from China, he would replace Tibet and China with a new empire. We have defeated him to prevent him from doing so."

"Khan defeated?" a soldier asked.

"This might allow us to be free," the delegate leader spoke, "that may be of use to us."

"We'll need proof," a second delegation member whispered to the delegation leader.

The delegation leader nodded and then called up again, "Can you prove this? We do not wish to get into any partnerships where we are mistreated!"

There was a silence for a few moments, but after a few moments, the voice answered, "I believe we can. You may select one or two of your fellow delegates to join you in coming to see our proof… though you will need flashlights."

Inside the base, Demona, Yoshi, and Wedrington had had a fairly difficult search. Despite the growing attraction to the English male, Demona knew that Je Lu's clan would never know peace so long as Khan was seen as a liberator or a hero. They knew that Khan was not these things, but the Tibetans and anti-Illuminati Chinese did not. They had to find some plan or record to prove that Khan was not a liberator or hero, but so far, that was slow going.

They had managed to find a few battery powered flash lights, but Demona still had to use an awful lot of magic in order to get Khan's computer running. She had to use even more to get Khan's password, since she wasn't a computer hacker, and neither were Yoshi or Wedrington. Even with all her power, it was draining her, and Demona could feel it.

"Have you found anything, yet?" Demona asked to Wedrington.

"Khan has a whole host of files," Yoshi answered, "and despite his Caucasian appearance, the files are all in Chinese. I can speak and read it… but I cannot rush the translation."

Demona gave a groan.

"And how are we going to show this to anyone that comes here and doesn't attack us?" Yoshi then asked, "You maybe powerful in magic, Demona, but even I can see that this is a strain on you."

"This might work," Wedrington commented as he pulled something off a shelf.

Both Demona and Yoshi looked up to see Wedrington holding up some hand-held device. It looked far more advanced than many of the pieces of the computer technology that were sold to the people, but then, the Illuminati might have depended on having technology that was better than others in order to help control the world. Khan's base was a former Illuminati base and gave him the best technology the Illuminati couldn't remove.

"Can it hook up to the computer?" Demona asked

"I think so," Wedrington commented, "It has a cord with a port that looks like it links up with a port on the computer. We can then transfer the file, and sense it is battery powered…"

"It'll help," Yoshi nodded, "and I think I've found what we need… even if it looks like the Tanaka Memorial."

"Maybe Khan copied it," Wedrington commented.

"Possibly," Yoshi nodded.

**On the Roof**

The soldiers did have some flashlights, and Je Lu, Shi La, and Yama waited for the delegates to climb up to the roof, along with two soldiers who they had insisted on as guards for the Tibetan delegates. The men arrived quietly, but all seemed to be surprised at what they found waiting for them. The two guards immediately readied their rifles to fire. The delegates stepped back, as if in shock.

"Dragons!" one of the delegates spoke in surprise.

"Dragons took out Khan!" another spoke in equal surprise.

The two soldiers, while they had their guns ready, looked too frightened to do much. As if the shock was too much to do anything.

"Not dragons," Je Lu spoke, "gargoyles. We are gargoyles. Those of us that resemble dragons are of Chinese ancestry, but have lived quietly here for years before Khan's arrival."

"And the war began with Khan attacking and destroying our home before he even started his war against the Illuminati," Shi La added.

"But he promised us freedom," the delegation's leader spoke, trying to regain some composure.

"From what we've seen of Khan's actions, that was a lie he made," Je Lu answered.

"You'd certainly deserve your freedom," Yama spoke up, "and we'll try to help… but you will have trust us and put those guns down."

The two soldiers immediately turned their weapons toward the Japanese male, taking his line as a threat.

"How would you help us?" the one of the other delegates wondered, "I've never heard of gargoyles actually living before…"

"We generally try to stay hidden for fear four our own lives," Je Lu spoke slowly, "and my clan has traditionally been pacifistic. It's only Khan's attack that has convinced us to actually take a stand…"

"But how will you help us free Tibet?" the delegate asked.

"If you trust us… and help us earn the trust of the anti-Illuminati Chinese, we will try to help you negotiate with them for your freedom," Shi La spoke…

"Though you may need to accept some compromise that doesn't make Tibet politically independent of China," Yama warned, "but you would have self-rule and an honest voice in whatever city becomes China's capital now that Khan and the Illuminati are gone."

"How would we be free if we are still under Chinese rule?" one of the soldiers demanded.

"China as a whole would be a democracy," Yama answered, "Like Japan is. Like the United States is… your people would be able to vote and participate in the government rather than being ruled by it."

"You mean… a Tibetan being President of China?" the leader of the delegation asked.

"That would be the idea," Shi La nodded, "and if all is well… you would accept us as well."

The delegation leader looked to the Tibetan gargoyles. They looked very much like the drawings of traditional Chinese dragons with the long and slender body, a long thin neck, and a dragon's head that was practically identical to the depictions of a Chinese dragon. The one thing that was different was the relatively small wings on the backs of these gargoyles in comparison to Yama's wings. While the delegation leader could see some firmness in Je Lu and Shi La, he also saw a lot of calm and lack of aggression.

"If you can present us with proof that Khan wouldn't help us, we will do our best to help you and ask you to help us," the delegation leader spoke calmly, genuinely hoping that such an action could and would help move toward Tibet's freedom.

"If you come with me, we can see if we have found the proof of what we know," Je Lu said with a sigh, "And you do have flashlights?"

The delegation leader nodded. The Tibetan leader then turned and walked slowly toward the rooftop entrance that was on the base. The delegation and escorting soldiers moved slowly behind them as they descended into the darkness that was Khan's fortress. This startled them all, as not even the emergency lights were on.

"What happened?" one of the soldiers asked nervously.

"When we defeated Khan we took out the base's power supply," Je Lu admitted, "anything that isn't battery powered is presently offline. That is why we asked if you had flashlights."

"So this proof is on paper?" the delegation leader wondered.

"Possibly," Je Lu answered, "though one of our allies against Khan is well versed in magic. She might be able to get some things powered up locally…"

"Magic? You mean like…"

"Things that cannot be easily explained scientifically," Je Lu cut off the statement.

They continued toward where Khan's office had been and to the soldier's surprise found three more gargoyles. But these were not like the Tibetan gargoyles. One looked like a white sphinx, while another looked like the Japanese male they had seen outside, and the last was a female with sky blue skin and looking very much like a Christian biblical demon. It was the 'demon' that noticed them first.

"You think these humans are trustworthy?" Demona said to Je Lu, some hint of threat in her voice, just to make sure that the armed humans didn't pull something sneaky.

"They represent Tibet, Demona," Je Lu spoke, "we'll need their help if you truly wish China and Tibet to be at peace…"

"I desire to make sure your clan is left in peace," Demona answered, "granting humans a peace alongside you is merely a bonus that comes along with it."

"All the same, you will need our help," the delegation leader spoke firmly, "now; my escorts say you have proof that Khan was not who he said he was?"

"Yes, and we've managed to find on a piece of technology that was not dependent on the main power to the fortress," Demona said slowly and motioned to Wedrington.

The delegation leader watched as the sphinx like gargoyle handed some plastic device with a screen to Demona. Demona then handed it to the delegation leader. He looked at it carefully and saw a line of words and even some maps for the long term plan that Khan had laid down. It was a plan that no one had seen before.

It read: "_The natural order of all things is that the strong and the superior rule over the weak. It was true when the Han Chinese ruled over the East and the Romans the West. It was true when the Mongols ruled the ENTIRE world. It was true when the Soviets, British, and Americans faced the Nazis. And now, we, the supermen created by the Illuminati are in that position of strength. As such, the world is OURS to rule._

_To do this, the first thing is to take the world piece by piece; making sure that the Illuminati is sufficiently divided and cannot overwhelm our superiority through sheer weight of numbers. The first shall be China, since it is where our base is located. With China under our rule, we shall have the manpower to collect genetic samples to create billions of supermen that will be superior to all other humans._

_The method of this conquest shall go in stages. First we must divide the Chinese people from the Illuminati. This shall be done by making it appear as that the Illuminati are tyrants suppressing their freedom and responsible for every calamity that has befallen China. In addition, we can use the fact that the Communist Chinese conquered Tibet. With those against the Illuminati and Tibetan nationalists wanting their own independence we will gain access to the raw numbers needed to overwhelm the pro-Illuminati soldiers._

_Once China is ours completely, we are to secretly collect genetic samples through blood donations, vaccination drives, and if necessary, kidnapping. We will then use these efforts to rapidly increase the number of supermen in our army. In addition, as our army grows, we are to remove those that would oppose us within China piece by piece. In the end, China will be under our complete control and those normal and inferior humans that remain will either serve us out of fear, or will have truly turned to our banner and serve us for some share of the spoils of our conquest…_

_The process in China will then repeat in the Koreas, Nepal, Bhutan, Indochina, and Mongolia, setting a power base from which we may move to control the world. And control it we will._"

The delegation leader gasped at all of this. It was clear that Khan had never intended to keep the promises he made as he saw the electronic signature of Khan at the bottom of the page.

"What have you done with him?" the delegation leader asked.

"In an enchanted sleep that he will never awaken from," Demona answered, "Khan and his followers here are not the concern. It is his followers outside Tibet."

"Yes," the delegation leader spoke, "and we'll need to work with the Anti-Illuminati Chinese to deal with them… I'm afraid I do not have enough Tibetans to deal with them all."

Demona was quiet as the delegation leader looked to her.

"But, for your help in revealing Khan's treachery," the delegation leader spoke, "we will see to your protection."

"Not MY protection, Je Lu's and his clan's protection," Demona answered, "and ideally, your help should be a respect and support for gargoyles. Not simply repaying a debt…"

The delegation leader looked at Demona for a moment.

"In my experience, I've known humans to respond in fear and turn on gargoyles when they feel the debt has been repaid," Demona said slowly, "which means there was never any peace. Peace will only come… will only come when you and Je Lu's clan can live together as friends and not just seeing one as some political tool."

Wedrington gave her a slight smile, which Demona noticed. She inwardly smiled at that. In the past she would have thought that impossible and wouldn't have even bothered to mention it, but she was changing. She was changing for him, to keep him with her, to have real companionship, which Thailog never gave and she had thrown away in frustration with Goliath. She wouldn't repeat her mistakes with Wedrington.

"That will take time when we know more," the delegation leader spoke in response, "we've only just met and learned that dragon like gargoyles exist. Show us that our races are the same… and that ideal may come about."

"We'll do our best to work to do that," Wedrington spoke up, "but it is work that will have to go both ways."

The delegation leader reached out to Demona. She hesitated, but ultimately did take his hand.

"Then let us work together," the delegation leader spoke as he and Demona shook hands.

**The End…**


	24. Various Victories and Other Wars

All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place five days after "You Are My Redemption…"

This is the most recent chapter in the Khan saga and will now fall into my standard rotation...

Various Victories and Other Wars

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

**Lhasa, Tibet**

Demona, Wedrington, Je Lu, and Shi Law slowly exited the vehicle that had been brought up to what had been Khan's base to look up to the building that the Tibetan delegation had been operating out of for their governmental headquarters. There was some unease going around as they had also been escorted by several members of the 'Tibetan' army, and all of them were armed. For Demona, this made her especially suspicious. Wedrington may have helped her get over all the feelings of anger and rage, mostly by simply listening, but that didn't mean that Demona had grown a great love for humans. To her, they had MUCH to prove to her before she would ever consider trusting them.

"Of course… Wedrington was human once," Demona thought to herself and glanced to the English gargoyle with her, "and has become rather handsome… but he could very well be one of the few exceptions."

She did her best to hide her growing infatuation with the sphinxlike male gargoyle. He represented her salvation from what the clan back in New York would have described as a 'psycho' into at least a tolerated outsider, but there was a lot of work that still needed to be done. Namely building a future for Je Lu's clan and that was why they had come to Lhasa. They would meet with the Tibetan delegation as well as with various groups that represented the main Chinese delegations that had been anti-Illuminati.

"Welcome to the capital… of Tibet, anyway," spoke a leading diplomat visited what had been Khan's base, "I hope you're all ready for a lot of talking…"

"So long as it's productive, we're ready," Demona said firmly.

The Tibetan humans had so far promised not to betray them, but things were still very early on, and Demona was not about to blindly hope for a good solution. Wedrington glanced to her for a few moments, but remained silent.

"You are certain these humans will not attack us?" Je Lu asked slowly, more fearful than mistrusting.

"We managed to get helicopters to these other areas with copies of what you found in Khan's base," the delegation leader said confidently, "We know they've had their own plans for China and for Tibet as well, but they were plans that go against what Khan's plan was…"

"And presumably Khan promised them that they'd eventually get what they want?" Wellington wondered.

The Tibetan delegate nodded.

"It might only mean they could only support us so long as Khan's supermen are still around," Demona grumbled.

"Not all paths to cooperation and support are easy," the Tibetan delegate answered, "It may take a lot of work… but if you work hard at it, you can prove yourself…"

Demona wanted to answer but felt Wedrington's had touch her shoulder. He answered for her.

"And we'll do our best to try," Wedrington spoke, "but remember that we are putting an awful lot of trust in those we do not personally know. We only ask that you try as hard as we will."

"And we will," the Tibetan delegate promised, "at present we need each other and once we get to know each other… old hostilities will die and we will want each other around."

"Hopefully," Shi La said with some optimism.

With that the Tibetan delegate gestured toward the doors and lead them all in. The four gargoyles hesitantly followed, with Demona bringing up the rear, just in case something went wrong.

"When will the other representatives arrive?" Je Lu asked curiously.

"Somewhat shortly," the Tibetan delegate answered, "Khan built a handful of airfields, but most are too small for major passenger jets and we're forced to rely on helicopter pads for transporting people quickly from areas outside of Tibet."

They made their way deeper into the building and through hallways and a staircase until they came to a large conference room. It had once been the Chinese Government's main office in Lhasa and was now controlled by what was the provisional Tibetan government. The Tibetan delegates quietly sat and waited for the others to arrive at one section of the table. Demona and her 'representatives' stood quietly nearby and Demona herself closely watched them. They were quiet, but she thought a couple of them looked hopeful. What they hoped for, Demona didn't know, but she hoped it would be clan for the clan.

**Siberia, Russia**

Russia, like the US maintained its own nuclear arsenal, capable of blowing up the world many times over. This particular base, however, didn't appear on any map. It was removed from official recon photos that the US government had and few in the Russian government even knew of its existence. The facility was, in fact, also an Illuminati base, and there a Russian officer who stood in line for the Illuminati election to replace Council members that had been killed in China or in Britain was inspecting the facilities.

"We've upgraded the security here, as you can see," a captain in the Russian explained as he pointed to various soldiers standing guard on various gangways around the facility.

The officer looked about the area at the gangways that surrounded the part of the facility they were in. It was connected to the main missile silo for what was one of Russia's permanent land based nuclear weapons. The gangways allowed men and scientists to test, check, and maintain the missile. The missile was held vertical by several metal clamps that would only be opened if the missile was to be fired. For the moment, no one, not even the Illuminati wanted to do that… except against maybe Khan, but for the moment Russia had no legitimate reason to enter a 'civil war' in China. As such, the Illuminati couldn't force things, and with no launch, troops manned the gangways to protect the missile.

"I fear men with machine guns may not be enough to stop this wave of assassinations that have been taking out our people," the officer answered, "they're taking out our major officers and commonly a good portion of our security that is already there."

"Wouldn't it be wiser to reopen our facilities where the assassin has already been?" the captain wondered, "contain him/her… or THEM?"

"And create a running wound where we continually have to cover new people going into an area?" the officer answered, "that is something only the Council could decide on… and until we can get these elections moving we won't have a Council…"

"Which means all we can do is cling to what we already have and hope this assassin of Khan's luck runs out," the captain then finished for the officer, looking down and sounding very disgruntled.

The officer running for one of the open council seats in the Illuminati easily caught on to what captain had commented on. Khan had apparently gotten some assassin that was taking out the Illuminati's leadership and any minor members and security staff that happened to be in the area. It was leaving holes in the Illuminati in a vulnerable position as without their leadership, many minor members also seemed to blunder about in confusion. Three in South Korea and two in Japan had gotten themselves arrested after accidentally misidentifying policemen or soldiers as Illuminati agents. Thankfully, all that came out of them were cases of disorderly conduct and nothing more.

But these assassinations were now advancing into Russia and were leaving the Far East. If this assassin wasn't stopped, the Illuminati as an organization might end up vanishing in a way they hadn't expected. With no Council, they couldn't even coordinate things completely and to make it worse, even if they did have a Council, there were no firm ideas as to how this assassin was traveling as fast as he/she/they were.

"It's not much, but it is something," the officer said with a sigh, "and that's better than nothing."

They kept walking silently for a few moments when a sudden blaring alarm sounded throughout the base. It was an alarm that was not to be ignored and they turned to a set of small and very thick windows that was their main control room. There the captain and the officer saw a woman's face smiling knowingly back at them. She mouthed the words "bye-bye" and then moved away from the window.

"How'd she get in?!" the captain shouted in surprise as he broke into a run toward the control room.

The officer was quick to run after him.

"It doesn't matter how… we've got to catch her and make her undo whatever it is she has done," the officer said urgently, "Perhaps she knows something about Khan's assassin."

They were joined by several security personnel as they rushed for the control room. They arrived to find the control room empty and with the two men manning the monitors there lying dead on the floor, with apparent blows to the neck being the cause of death.

"Check the bathroom!" the officer ordered.

Two soldiers immediately went to a small bathroom in the nearby area and kicked the door open. They found no one there either.

"Where did she go?" one of the soldiers asked puzzlement.

"Forgetwhere…weneedtogetoutofhere," the captain said quickly and began pushing on the officer to pushing back toward the door.

The officer was about to ask when he saw a clock on one of the monitors counting down. It read: 7… 6… 5… 4… 3…

"My God…" the officer said slowly.

2… 1…

**Pentagon, Alexandria, Virginia**

"Sir… our satellites just picked up a massive nuclear blast," a man reported in the nerve center of the US military.

"Nuclear?" a higher ranking officer questioned.

"Yes, sir," the man manning the satellite imagery monitoring station answered, "standard ICBM size, sir."

"Where?" the higher ranking officer.

"Here, practically in the middle of Siberia," the man at the station reported.

The officer came to look at the screen.

"There are supposed to be no launch sites there," the officer stated, "did anyone push the button? This Khan perhaps?"

"There was no missile launch anywhere," the man at the station answered, "at least not that I could monitor. My best guess is that the Russians got some nukes we haven't found and they just had another nuclear accident."

"Damn," the higher ranking officer cursed, "better pass this on to the President and the Secretaries of Defense and State."

**Siberia**

Marilyn stood about fifty miles to the east of the edge of the blast area near the rearview mirror of a truck she'd already commandeered from one of her previous operations, which had now moved into Russia. She privately smiled as this action would make her mission even easier. The Illuminati was already beginning to break under the strain of her assassinations and in some places were running out of men altogether. And since the instillation that she had just blown up was more of an Illuminati facility than it was Russian, she knew that she had just inflicted extreme losses on them.

"Hopefully I'm showing you a great victory, Khan," Marilyn smiled to herself and then dove back into the mirror.

**Lhasa, Tibet**

The wait wasn't too long soon several men finally made their way into the conference room. None of them knew what Marilyn had just unleashed in Russia and were focused on more immediate concerns. Demona kept a few choice sleep spells fresh in her mind as the Chinese delegates entered. If they did anything hostile, she'd make sure they'd be asleep and allow them to escape. There was some surprise from the Chinese delegates as they entered, as none of them expected to see gargoyles.

"Dragons?" one of the Chinese delegates asked slowly to the Tibetan delegate leader.

"We are gargoyles," Je Lu spoke in answer, "We resemble dragons, yes, but we are gargoyles…"

"Instinctive protectors by nature," Wedrington added.

"And we reserve the choice to choose what we protect," Demona finished in a firm tone.

The Chinese delegates gave a short and nervous glance, particularly after Demona's comment. They did however continue into the room and soon took seats, though keeping the desk between them and the gathered gargoyles.

"Your message said you had proof that Khan was not all he appears to be," one of the Chinese delegates spoke calmly to the Tibetan delegation, though keeping one eye on Demona and the others.

"Yes," the Tibetan delegation leader spoke and motioned to one of his comrades.

A different Tibetan delegate came forward and placed a laptop on the table so that the Chinese delegates could see it. The laptop contained the entire plan that Yoshi had found at Khan's base. Once it was set up, the files on Khan's plans were brought up for the Chinese delegates to see. Demona watched quietly as the Chinese men's faces went from suspicion to disbelief and then to complete and utter shock.

"He…" one spoke nervously.

"He intended to replace the Illuminati with himself and we wouldn't learn of that until after he'd created enough supermen to police all of China… and maybe the rest of Asia," the Tibetan delegation leader nodded.

"So… we chose the wrong side?" another Chinese man asked, "We should have sided with the Illuminati?"

There was a great deal of confusion among the faces of the Chinese representatives that had arrived. Demona and Wedrington could easily see it in their wide eyes and frequent looking back and forth among themselves rather than eyeing the non-humans in the room.

"Your decision to oppose the Illuminati wasn't wrong," Wedrington spoke up, "merely who you sided with to do so…"

This raised some eyebrows and brought attention back to the gathered gargoyles.

"We actually have the gargoyles here to thank for uncovering this information for us," the Tibetan delegate leader reported, "they found it in his headquarters… giving us the chance to deal with those of Khan's followers that aren't around his base."

"You found it?" one asked cautiously toward Demona.

"Yes," Demona said slowly.

"You didn't fabricate it?" another asked.

"No," Demona said back, doing little to hide her irritation at the question.

There was a brief silence as the Chinese arrivals moved to almost huddle together. Demona caught faint whispers, but their voices were kept soft enough that even her ears could not fully make out what was being said. Occasionally she could make out a lone word, like 'Khan' or 'supermen' or 'difficult,' but it wasn't enough to be completely certain as to what they were talking about. After a few moments the huddle broke and the attention of all the Chinese delegates focused on Demona and the gargoyles in the room.

"What you've found looks legitimate," the Chinese leader said slowly, "so we will trust your evidence that Khan has betrayed us, and thus you have our thanks."

"Anything we can do to provide and protect a free China," Je Lu spoke up, his tone carrying one of deep respect, even if for a total stranger.

"Then there is more that you can provide for us," the Chinese leader replied in a firm tone, "we want Khan brought before us so he may be tried for his affronts to the Chinese people."

"Unfortunately, Khan cannot do that since he is presently in a very deep spell," Demona asked.

"Sleep?"

"Enchanted sleep," Demona said simply, "until certain conditions are met, he and his followers in his base will not and cannot wake up."

"The gargoyles apparently had some issues with Khan before the war and were after him for those issues," the Tibetan delegation leader said slowly, "It was their battle with Khan that allowed them to get the proof we've placed before you."

The Chinese representatives then traded glances again before their leader gave a heavy sigh.

"Very well…" the Chinese leader sighed, "then I suppose our next order of business is to settle China's political future and remove the last of Khan's supermen."

"As well as providing a home for Je Lu, Shi La, and his clan," Demona spoke, gesturing to both Tibetan gargoyles as she mentioned their names.

"We hardly have the time," the Chinese leader stated, "the future must be won and you are all still an unknown to us."

Demona only resisted growling back in defiance when she felt Wedrington's hand on her shoulder. It was ultimately Je Lu who stepped forward.

"Let them take the lead in this," Wedrington whispered to Demona, "this is for their home and their future."

As he finished, Je Lu then began to speak.

"Tibet… AND China is my clan's home as well," Je Lu spoke, "Our futures are intertwined. Our issues with Khan were that he wished to deny us our right to our home. We've fought him to win our right to live here… with our own people."

"With other gargoyles?" one of the lower ranking Chinese representatives asked.

"With humanity," Shi La answered, "we once did and protected the people of Beijing. Violence in the past forced our clan and several monks out here to hide… but we do not wish to hide any more. We wish to be accepted."

"We don't know you," the Chinese leader said firmly.

"Let us prove ourselves to you," Je Lu offered, "assist in capturing the last of Khan's followers in China and prove that we are protectors to be supported."

The Chinese representatives again began to huddle and whisper to each other. Again Demona listened to the conversation as best she could, but couldn't hear much. What she did hear, however, did not make her feel that enthusiastic. Her eyes were soon scanning potential escape routes and her face taking on a bit of a scowl. It was situations like this that she wondered why she let Wedrington persuade her to abandon her war on humanity. Eventually the huddle broke up again.

"We will accept your offer to help, under the condition that whatever you want out of this is not to rule over humanity and that you will accept that humanity will rule over you," the Chinese leader.

"We had hoped we could live as equals," Je Lu replied.

"That may very well happen," the Tibetan delegate spoke optimistically, "but you are still new to all of us. As far as we knew, gargoyles only lived in New York City. Prove yourselves worthy, and equality will come."

Demona got the sense that was part of the political processes that humans engaged in. They turned favors into deals for favors in return and it seemed to be rarely with real good in mind. On some level, Demona respected the ability to manipulate others to certain ends, but only when it was her interests that were benefiting from the deal. It so far seemed as though Je Lu and his clan would be manipulated into a position of slavery if the humans didn't give some promise to try and be tolerant.

"We will do what we can to prove our trustworthiness," Je Lu spoke, forcing Demona to bite her tongue, "We will ask that you allow us to provide our advice and inform you of what my clan will need for the future."

"That doesn't sound like a bad deal," one of the Tibetan delegates spoke, "after all; you've already done a lot for us."

The Chinese representatives shared a few glances among themselves but eventually agreed.

"Very well, you may participate in the talks on the future of China," the Chinese delegate leader said slowly. He didn't entirely trust the gargoyles and his tone indicated that he was only accepting because of the help that they'd already provided, but to Je Lu that would at least be an opening to set the road to a better future.

"What will you need?" one of the other Chinese delegates asked, sounding slightly suspicious.

"We hope to return to our ancestral home in Beijing and would request that religious laws be relaxed to allow the monks that have been under our protection to return to their homes and not feel threatened because they are not 'political'," Shi La said slowly, "and if you cannot allow that… we would ask that you provide some assistance in allowing us to rebuild our home here in Tibet and we will remain in exile."

"We'll see what we can do," the Chinese leader answered, "and will see how well you can help."

Je Lu and Shi La both nodded. With that settled, the subject moved onto the future of China.

**Moscow, Russia**

The nuclear explosion in Siberia created chaos in more places than just in America. If it had been a facility that everyone in the government knew of, it would have been covered up as an accident, but it couldn't. There was too much of a surprise in the explosion from the members of the Russian government that weren't part of the Illuminati that it couldn't be covered up.

"What do you mean an accident?!" the Russian President demanded of a security officer standing at attention near a series of instrument panels in Russia's military headquarters.

"Just as I said, sir," the officer said nervously, "one of our missiles exploded in its silo. It destroyed several square miles of Siberian forest."

"How could that have happened?!" the Russian President demanded, "We have NO SILOS THERE!"

The officer cringed at the force with which the Russian President was chewing him out for this. He was an Illuminati member, and if those missiles were ever to be launched, he would actually launch them, but the present situation had removed that necessity. But, he couldn't tell the Russian President that, as the war in China and the defeat against Arthur and Macbeth in Britain had given the Illuminati the recognition that despite all the power they had attained, they couldn't rule outright. Revealing that to the Russian President would make matters worse than it already was.

"Someone HAD to have attacked us!" the Russian President shouted again, "I want to know WHO so we can strike back!"

"There was no missile firing anywhere," the officer answered, sounding nervous, "our intelligence from China would indicate that Khan destroyed their missiles before his war began and satellite imagery shows that the Americans haven't even activated any of their silos. We took no incoming."

"A dirty bomb then," the Russian President offered, "someone in a truck…"

"The blast was too big to have been a truck bomb… and if even if it was, why would they go to where we send criminals to die?" the security officer answered, "Mr. President, what happened was an accident. One of our OWN missiles exploded for reasons we do not know… as for how or why the silo was there, I don't know. It might have been hidden by Khrushchev or some other old Soviet as part of a game with the Americans long since over and forgotten… I don't know…"

The Russian President gave a frustrated groan, "You have no answers…?"

"Not…" the officer began.

"Then get out of here!" the Russian President roared, "Don't come back until you have answers!"

The officer's eyes widened, but followed the command as two soldiers came forward to escort him out. He had failed the Illuminati in protecting the facility. He was privately sure that the assassin that Khan had hired was the one behind it, which he couldn't report without revealing the Illuminati, which would bring some trouble from them, even without all their trouble with regard to the election for new Council members. He made his way out of the building and onto Moscow's streets as he pondered his no win situation.

"I can't tell the President the truth as that would expose me and my other masters, and even if I don't get it from him, the Illuminati will off me for sure," the officer lamented privately to himself, "or the assassin will get me."

His walk was quiet as his situation replayed over and over through his mind. There was no way he could win or even survive. Either the Russian government would execute him or the Illuminati would kill him. He was dead regardless of what he did, and once he reached his apartment, he reached the only decision he could honestly make. He drew his gun and closed his eyes.

**Lhasa, Tibet**

"We will now try to settle the political future of China as well as its borders," the Chinese leader then announced as the conversation moved away from human/gargoyle relations.

"Yes," the Tibetan delegate leader nodded, "Lets."

"What is your status on our province of Xizang Zizhiqu?" one of the other Chinese delegates immediately asked toward the Tibetan representatives.

Wedrington watched as the Tibetan delegates looked among themselves for a moment. This was not an unexpected argument that could come and he had actually warned the Tibetans that Tibetan independence might be an unreachable goal. And while Demona remained suspicious of the intentions of the humans they were working to build a relationship with for Je Lu's clan, Wedrington had noted that the Tibetans had actually seemed fairly accepting of them. As such, Wedrington hoped that the Tibetan delegates took the advice that he and Demona had given. He watched quietly as the Tibetan delegates finished and turned back to the Chinese delegates.

"We can accept that our home is part of China," the Tibetan delegate leader answered slowly, "all we ask though, is that in the new government we are given some self-autonomy. We elect our own governor and send our own representatives to Beijing… not simply being ruled by some party boss or outsider with someone else's interests in mind."

The Chinese representatives all traded looks, and looked more suspicious of the Tibetan politicians than they had of the gargoyles. It was at this point that Wedrington decided to add in his two cents, hoping he helped.

"It'd be a democratic government, I'd assume," Wedrington added, "which could mean local Chinese could find office in Tibet provided they speak in the interests of the local population and would ensure that Tibet is given a fair deal with regard to overall representation… I mean you wouldn't like if Tibet conquered you and said that your government would be run by Tibetans and your people wouldn't get anything, would you?"

"No," one of the lowest ranking members of the Chinese delegation said quickly.

"And so it's a compromise," Wedrington answered, "China remains united but everyone gets a fair voice in the government."

"And what if it doesn't work?" the Chinese leader questioned toward Wedrington specifically, "suppose something happens all that is done in this democracy is argument?!"

Wedrington managed a shrug, "That's a risk… but if given a chance to be fully established… a democracy functions well and can respond to crises. You've seen America decide to become a dictatorship lately… or ever? Have you?"

The Chinese representatives remained quiet for a moment.

"And so long as your faction remains in the majority of the overall government it is not as though your policies will disappear," Demona added, privately regretting getting involved in the politicking, but got the sense that wasn't much choice.

Wedrington had too much of his experience as a citizen of the UK and the Tibetan delegates wanted to gain some freedom. Demona wanted freedom for Je Lu and his clan, but also knew that they wouldn't get it so long as China and Tibet were engaged in rivalry, as their problems would soon be used as excuse to punish the gargoyles. The Chinese would need to be assured that they would keep power.

"And correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't your specific 'group' form the majority of China's population?" Demona then finished.

"Where do you stand on this, Tibetan gargoyles?" the Chinese leader questioned, "You think we should give Tibet its freedom?"

"Freedom to work with you," Je Lu spoke, "it is not our place to say what you should or shouldn't do with regard to exact politics…"

"But we would think that a more tolerant society would work better," Shi La added, "Or are you going to prefer an endless war?"

"And if the people of Xizang Zizhiqu use this as an excuse to rebel?" the Chinese leader questioned, again looking suspicious and waiting for some mistake.

"If you treat them fairly and give them a fair voice, they'll have no reason for rebellion," Wedrington replied somewhat nervously, as he feared he wasn't making much of an impact.

"And if they can't form a majority on their own… your power won't be challenged," Demona added.

It was here that the Tibetan delegates finally entered into this section of the conversation.

"We have no desire to force a fight that we cannot win," a Tibetan delegate said slowly, "You don't wish us to be independent and we lack the men to win it. We will accept being part of China and will not rebel. All we ask is that we are not oppressed. Is that too hard to accept?"

"We will accept this on a trial basis," the Chinese leader finally said after a moment, "You will be in the same boat as the gargoyles. You fail to show loyalty to China and your autonomy within China will disappear. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," the Tibetan delegation leader said weakly.

"I think we can tentatively move on to the last of Khan's followers," a different Tibetan representative spoke, "the gargoyles have promised to help… but how do you think we should do this?"

At this point, a different Tibetan stepped forward. Unlike the others who wore business suits and ties, this man wore a general officer's uniform. He had remained quiet and had given some questioning looks toward the gargoyles, but as Demona noticed his movement, she also got the sense that there was something turning in his head.

"That may not be too difficult," the general, General Lao, said calmly, "I'm sure with the gargoyle's help we can set up some ambushes that they cannot escape… at least with those that won't be coming here…"

"Won't be coming here?" the Chinese leader questioned, standing up nervously, "they're coming here?"

"Who are you?" a different Chinese representative questioned.

"I am General Lao of the Free Tibet section of the Free Chinese Army," General Lao answered in a way that brought the previous discussion together with the present, "and some supermen units might be indeed headed this way."

The four gargoyles listened to a few hushed whispers of surprise went through the room, from both the Tibetan representatives and the Chinese representatives.

"My offices have been getting calls from various superman units from throughout China, all stating that they cannot reach Khan," General Lao continued, "I believe they may begin to send representatives back to report to him in person…"

"What have you told these men?" the Chinese leader said urgently.

"Mostly that we haven't been able to make contact either," General Lao answered, "I don't believe they suspect us of any wrong doing and their return is more curiosity than anything else… they might only send a handful that could easily be ambushed by the gargoyles."

"That might make things easier," Je Lu commented, "with no new supermen being created, they'd be whittled down… but we would need daytime protectors."

"Daytime protectors?" General Lao questioned.

Demona gave a frustrated growl as the only answer that would explain things would expose a gargoyle's greatest weakness. She would survive if they betrayed them, but Je Lu and the others wouldn't. The image of Wedrington's stone form being smashed sent an involuntary shiver through her that General Lao blinked at.

"We turn to stone during the day," Demona answered, "If they arrive during the day… we'd be helpless."

"I see," General Lao said slowly, and mentally taking notes, "I'm sure we can spare a handful of troops to man the roof area of Khan's former base. That shouldn't be a problem."

Demona immediately began trying to figure a way to create a safe room guarded by her magic, in case this General Lao had any secret plans.

"Then I suppose we can hold off on direct attacks until Khan's followers come stumbling into the trap," the Chinese leader gave a confident smile.

**Hotel Cabal, NYC**

Duval was extremely nervous as more news reports came in. Some were standard news channels that were reporting on a dreadful accident in Russia involving a nuclear missile, but others were reports from the various Illuminati channels. Despite the assassin's efforts, many of the communications networks remained up and Illuminati members could track the assassin's actions as they happened… or at least the aftermath of them. And the assassin's actions in Russia were beginning to break the Illuminati in many ways.

"What do you mean you won't be participating in the election?" Duval demanded into the phone, "we're losing members left and right. We need everyone to get the election through. Then we can at least try to rally the minor members and those who know little or nothing to action against this assassin… or at least get an attack off against Khan!"

"I won't even participate in the vote," came the answer, "It's too much exposure and we have no true idea on how the assassin is moving so fast. I'll follow you and the new council… if you can get one elected… but I'm not sticking my neck out until we are safe and secure from this assassin!"

"But we need everyone for this!" Duval argued, "People are doing what you're doing and we're losing control. If that happens… if that happens they'll be no Illuminati. Khan will win and take over the globe and we will have failed! The Mage's prophecy…"

"Might still come," was the response, "he was never wrong before. We simply won't be there to see it… but then who knows; maybe in tighter security of smaller independent groups we can identify this assassin better."

And with that the line went dead and Duval sighed heavily. Things were accelerating and running out of control. On some level, he actually benefitted because most of the members that were still working the election and willing to vote had promised to support and campaign for him, and as such Duval's personal chances of even a high ranking seat were now rather good, but it still came with a big price. Two other candidates had dropped out of the race and many like the member he had just been speaking with were even going to vote. As such, things were falling apart exactly in the way that Duval and stated.

With members dropping out of the race and others refusing to participate in the election or even vote, the ability of the Illuminati to control itself was growing even weaker and weaker. To make matters worse, people dropping out weren't only problem arising out of the nuclear blast that Khan's assassin had unleashed in Siberia. Some of his Illuminati Society reports gave the indication that at least ten members in Russia alone had committed suicide. Most of them appeared to have been in posts that would have led to them answering questions that would have exposed the Illuminati had they answered the questions honestly. The rest seemed to be members in isolated posts with little guard and committed suicide to deny the assassin the victory.

"This assassin is rapidly destroying us," Duval said aloud in a defeated tone, "and without a Council, we can't even marshal the men or magics needed to stop her unless she stumbles on to them."

He turned in his chair and looked out a window where he could see a lone tower that caught his eye. The Eyrie Building stood out as New York's tallest building and home to a clan of gargoyles that presently protected the city openly.

"They might be the only ones who can save us… but how are we going to convince them that we aren't an enemy after everything?" Duval wondered aloud as an idea came to him, "and how do I get something so ambitious approved without a Council to approve it?"

**Khan's Former Base, Tibet**

Demona, Wedrington, Je Lu, and Shi La returned an hour before dawn to the base that they had taken over from Khan. With them were the soldiers that General Lao had promised would guard them during the day. Yama, Yoshi, and the Tibetan Clan were also present for their return and they looked somewhat perplexed by the arrival of soldiers as well as the other clan members.

"Are we to be arrested?" one Tibetan gargoyle asked as she came forward, eying the soldiers.

"For the moment, no," Je Lu assured her, "though things are not over."

"Not over?" Yoshi wondered.

"The humans want us to help finish off Khan's army," Demona grumbled, "and they won't trust us until we've 'proved' ourselves to them."

"And we will," Je Lu added, "but for the moment there are still some things that need to be done prepare…"

"Like what?" Yama asked, eyeing the soldiers taking up guard posts.

"Establishing a safe room inside the base," Demona whispered, "in case the soldiers are lying about protecting us."

**The End…?**


End file.
